


Percy Jackson and the Zappy Burglar

by hells_trash_can, Unicycle_Enthusiast



Series: Percy Jackson and What the FUCK is Going On? [1]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Aged Up Percy Jackson Character(s), Aged-Up Percy Jackson, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Attempt at Humor, BAMF Percy Jackson, Camp Half-Blood (Percy Jackson), Canon Rewrite, Canon-Typical Violence, Crack Treated Seriously, Crack and Angst, De-aged Luke Castellan, Fluff and Crack, Fuck Canon, Gabe Ugliano Being an Asshole, Good Luke Castellan, Good Ol' Grover, Grover's a weeb, M/M, Multi, Not Canon Compliant, Past Abuse, Past Child Abuse, Percy Being an Idiot, Percy Jackson is a Mess, Percy gains middle names, Rewrite, Sally's a MILF, Sarcastic Percy Jackson, Series, me me being Unicycle_Enthusiast, me me like italics, ooky spooky oracle, you read the tag before right
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-08
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-03 18:53:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 35,174
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24600355
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hells_trash_can/pseuds/hells_trash_can, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Unicycle_Enthusiast/pseuds/Unicycle_Enthusiast
Summary: ~Summary~Welcome to screwing canon up but somehow keeping it the same. In my gay little head of mine, (along with a couple of chapters written by a friend, ily to her btw ) is this concept. We got Luke and Annabeth switching places, aged-up Percy, aged down Luke, and some future things that I don't wanna spoil. (Let's just say, Thalia is a bigger character.) It's written in the first person since I want to emulate the first book since it's a re-write, fix-it, whatever you want to call it. I'm shit at summaries so I don't how to sell a story, unlike a salesperson. Um...read on?
Relationships: Luke Castellan/Percy Jackson, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Series: Percy Jackson and What the FUCK is Going On? [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1778290
Comments: 28
Kudos: 177





	1. I Fight a Cow in it's Tighty-Whities

**Author's Note:**

  * For [hells_trash_can](https://archiveofourown.org/users/hells_trash_can/gifts).



Hi, I’m Percy Jackson, and I don’t know what the fuck is going on. I honestly think I’ve gone crazy! Just last week I _evaporated_ my my math, or more specifically Pre-Algebra, teacher. She was this leather-skinned 50-year-old woman who loved her biker jacket a lot more than any normal human should. I’d bet money that she survived on children’s tears _alone_ . But anyway she’s gone, done-zo, _non-existent_ . At least that’s what everyone in this school seems to think, but I know better. There is _no way_ that I dreamed up me straight-up _murdering_ my math teacher and then her blowing up into this fine dust-like gold powder. She taught us for the whole first semester, so how in the ever-loving _hell_ does no-one remember her existence? Even the carrot freckled _Nancy_ doesn’t remember her, and she was her favorite! She let Nancy get away with anything, especially if it involved me.

It’s now the end of the year and a semester since that day, and honestly, you’d think I’d be over this so-called fever dream, but there’s one thing that keeps me hanging onto this hallucination: Grover. I’ll let you in on a little secret about my best friend. He’s a shit liar. Every time I bring up the teacher-turned monster situation he avoids all eye-contact and unsubtly tries to change the subject. Hell, just weeks after the whole murdering-my-math-teacher event, I overhead ( _read: eavesdropped on_ ) him and Mr. Brunner, my favorite teacher, gossip like middle school girls about some type of camp, some drama with this Zeus dude, and more importantly: _me!_ _Rude._

I sigh, laying on my bed staring up at the ceiling above me. I’d pack for my summer trip home but it’s the procrastination and the dread of having to stay with my bastard of a step-father that keeps me from it. To be honest, I’m still not sure if I get to see the pride on my mother’s face for being obedient enough to be invited back to Yancy. It’s still in discussion, especially after I called an old, wispy-haired teacher a sot. Do I know what that means? No. Do I regret sayings it? Let me think about it... _No_. As you can probably tell, I’m not the biggest fan of boarding schools. One of the reasons being my mother. I’m willing to admit that yes, I am a mama’s boy. You’d be too if you had a mom like mine. She was like a gift from the gods, mainly ‘cause she had to deal with a brat like me and my step-father Gabe, or what I like to call him, Smelly Gabe. He smelt like if you took rotted vegetables, boiled them in hot dog water, and finished the dish off with sweat from a high school athlete’s sock. It didn’t help that the dude was a raging dick. The only thing keeping me away from knocking his lights is the threat of him touching my mother if I step even a millimeter out of line. 

In the midst of my internal bashing of Smelly Gabe, Grover comes hobbling into our shared room. I notice him come in quickly, instantly distracted from my mind rant. He gives me a sheepish smile and asks me a question.

“Hey, uh. You’re taking the 11:00 am Greyhound bus into the city right? Have you brought tickets yet for the ride or no?” 

I nod at the first question and give him a nonchalant _nah_ for the second. Since Yancy is in the center of Albany, New York it’s hard to get a taxi to drive you the two and a half hour trip into Manhattan and to your apartment, I have to ride a bus to Manhattan and hall a taxi to my apartment. A hassle, I know.

“Do you mind if you took the 10:00 am one instead? I mean- like so I don’t have to ride alone…”

I stare at him confused. _Isn’t the 10:00 am bus going to Long Island?_ After that thought, I voice it to him. _Why in the_ hell _would I take a bus to Long Island? It’s like a three-hour ride!_

“Yeah, yeah it is but it’s cheaper to get on the Long Island bus then get a taxi ride into Manhattan rather than what you’re doing...”

I raise an eyebrow, not quite believing what Grover’s layin’ down.

He senses my skepticism almost instantly. “Well, I accidentally,” his eyes avert away from me, “bought two tickets for the bus ride to Long Island and I can’t return them… You don’t have to pay me back for the tickets, so it’s much cheaper! I don’t wanna waste the money and it’d be nice for someone to accompany me…”

I stare at him, silent. I know that he’s lying about the ticket thing but the promise of a free ride and the fact that I’ll keep the money I’ve got from illegally selling candy out of my dorm in my pockets in what really sold it. I blink, lengthen the tension, then break it will a crooked smirk.

“You got a deal G-man. You drive a hard bargain, but I’m willing to spend half an hour to save some hard-earned cash.”

He lets out a relieved smile and sighs. He does roll his eyes at my comment of ‘hard-earned cash’ though. _Hey! It’s hard work to re-sell candy that I amassed from my escapades of sneaking out of the dorms and to the local convenience store!_ “

“What time we leaving?” I ask, a bit worried since I haven’t even taken my suitcase off the shelf in my closet. 

“Percy, it’s already 9:45… Have you even _started packing?_ It’s a short walk there but…” He trails off as I rush through packing. 

I launch off my bed and slam the door of my closet open. I jump to snatch my hard-shelled suitcase off the shelf and fling it out. The thing goes flying behind me and all I hear is a girly shriek and a loud thump. Whether it hit Grover or the wall isn’t my problem. _If it hits him, he deserves it for not telling me early about the change of bus plans!_ I tug the t-shirts and jeans lazily hung over the school-owned hangers and pile them in front of me. _No time for organization!_ Once the closet is empty I swing around to face Grover, who seems terrified and throwing the pile of cleaned clothes on my bed. I headed over to my dresser to ransack it for socks, underwear, and other shirts and pants that were missing from the closet. I zip open my suitcase and slide the clothes on the bed into it and shove the dresser designated clothes into as well. Luckily, my toiletries were already in a plastic bag. _Thank fuck for past me using the excuse of having to pack toiletries (and taking a very nice, and very long, shower) for being late to class._ I grab the bag, punt it out of the room, and surprisingly into my case. _Nice!_ Reaching the end of my packing struggle I pull out the dirty clothes under my bed, force all of the stuff I have accumulated, and force it all into the case. I sigh, feeling quite smug about my hurried packing. 

“Um, it’s uh...time to go? How in the _hell_ did you get your entire closet, dresser, _and_ toiletries in there?” Grover questions with a look of shock.

“Tact and experience G’ man! Tact and experience.” I say matter a factly. I’ve found in my years of living with Smelly Gabe, the faster I pack, the quicker I leave and grab whatever you can because when you’re trouble’s best friend it’s nice to have an extra shirt.

“Now, let’s head out. I don’t wanna waste your money and certainly not mine!”

Without saying our goodbyes to the teachers we head out. This occurrence causes me no qualms mainly ‘cause except for Mr. Brunner, the whole lot of them can suck my left nut, especially you Mr. Terst, you sot! _Still don’t know what that means, but I know its offensive so I’ll use it till I do know what it is, then I find a new insult I don’t understand! Or perhaps make one up so only I’ll know what I call you! Hah!_ But anyway, back to our stroll. Thanking whatever deity is out there, we finally arrive and without anything going wrong! Yay! I smile to myself wanting to get back to my mindscape of how to get away with murdering Smelly Gabe. Before I’m able to enter said mindscape Grover grips my arm and pulls me onto the now arrived bus.

The ride was boring. _I shouldn’t be surprised… I don’t have anything to do and reading really isn’t my thing especially since I’ve got dyslexia. It doesn’t help that I’ve got ADHD to really extend how long this ride will feel. Well, whatever._

The resounding sound of incessant car horns interrupts my thoughts. I look away from the window am seated beside as the bus comes to a stop. Confused, I look towards Grover. His face is pale and he’s shaking violently. 

“Yo, G-man!” You good?” 

He raises a shaky hand, a crooked pointer finger uncurls from his loose but tight fingered fist. My eyes follow his make-shift arrow to stare at what looks like a brown...cow? It’s large, bigger than the car it seems to be in front of. Grover snatches my wrist and sprints through the bus aisle.

“Dude! What the hell?!” I shout at him as he limps out the doors of the bus. “Grover!” He ignores me and continues to run on the highway. There’s a crowd of people surrounding the unbelievably large cow seemingly trying to herd it off the street. To say the least, Ground Beef ain’t happy about the traffic jam he’s causing. 

“Get in,” Grover demands, getting my attention.

“What?”

“Get in!” Grover repeats and points the car next to him that’s stopped by the edge of the highway.

“Um dude, not to be a stick in the mud, but I’m almost positive this ain’t your car.”

“Doesn’t matter, I’ll explain once we’re safe. Just get in the car.”

I sigh, closing my eyes. What in the holy fuck was I getting myself into? Also, Is Grover okay? Delinquency isn’t usually his style. Whatever, I guess I’m in for this ride. “Fine,” I say, “But only if you explain what you were talking about with Mr. Brunner a while back, like about that camp and this Zeus dude and what it’s got to do with me!”

Grover gulps and quickly agrees. I jog around the back of the car and hop in the passenger seat. Luckily for Grover, the keys are already in the ignition. His hands still shake and part of me regrets letting the supposed 14-year-old that looks 17 drive.

“Do you even know how to drive?” 

“Uh- yeah. It’s not a long drive anyway and there won’t be traffic so...we’ll be fine,” he mumbles another thing about some guy named Luke and that this would be a lot easier with him.

“O...kay, I’ll trust you, but if I die in a car crash you’re the second person I’ll haunt. The first being my step-father, he’s an ass so I’ll be more than happy to drive him up the wall without a person to blame.” I say mumbling the last part.

The car burst into action flying off the highway and onto the field beside it. Before I can ask why in the _hell_ we are suddenly deciding to go off-roading the thundering steps of the large cow rocks the car and fill my ears. Looking out the rearview mirror I make eye-contact with Ground Beef himself, now in his, what Grover would call, his final form. He was at least 11 feet tall and was speeding towards us.

“Uh, Grover? Is that what I think it is?”

“If it’s the son of Pasiphaë, yes. Yes, it is.”

“You mean the Mino-”

“Names have power Perce.” He interrupts.

“Well, uh Ground Beef over here is about the flip our car.”

“WHAT?!” Grover gets wide-eyed as Ground Beef grabs the stolen car by the wheels as flips up vertically. We both scream as we latch onto our seats in an effort to try and save our skulls. Feeling very unsafe in the confines of the car and bust out as well as Grover.

I make eye-contact with the cowman, this time though I give him a good look down. He’s covered in thick brown fur and has horns as large as his head. He stinks of wet dog and boiled ham and puffs of air burst out of his wet nose. These things aren’t the main thing that really shocks me though. It the surprisingly clean bright white Fruit of the Loom underwear he’s donned. It would make me chuckle if I wasn’t in mortal danger. 

Grover clutches my arm once again and pulls me backward.

“The- the hill. We- you got to get past the tree! We’ll- you’ll be safe! Let’s go, co-come on!”

I look behind me to try and spot a hill with a tree on top. Thanking the deity above again, my eyes make contact with it. 

A loud distorted moo-like grunt makes his face Ground Beef once again. I gulp, trying to put on a tough face. Grover pulls on my arms again and I follow his pull. We break into a dead sprint, or at least I do, towards the long run ahead of us towards the tree.

Beside me, Grover, how’s still attached to my arm, inhales sharply. His eyes averted right of the tree. I follow his gaze and to my horror three older women sat, knitting away on what looks like a giant’s sock. Needles bound up and down as multi-colored strings flow into the sock creating a shockingly beautiful sock. Suddenly the needles hesitate when a light blue string is pulled taut away from the sock. Large shear-like scissors near the thick thread causing Grover to wail. The scissors snip shut and the blue string becomes limp as it’s cut in half. 

My arm becomes light as Grover’s hand comes loose from my arm. I look towards Grover and freeze in horror at Grover’s unconscious body. _Really?! Now?! Not when the car flips or when we came face-to-face with Ground Beef but when we saw some old hags knitting a fucking_ sock _?!_ I groan and begin to drag him across the dew-soaked dirt.

Now facing the monster, I realize the situation ahead of me. _I’m gonna die with Grover in my arms while three unhelpful old hags watch. Long live Percy Jackson, forever a virgin. God this is sad… I never ever got to see my mom. My mom. HOLY SHIT, MY MOM. She’ll kill me if I die without her saying goodbye!_

I swallow, drying my mouth and lay Grover on the grass just a few yards away from the hill. I sharply inhale and let out a shaky breath before darting to the left. 

“Hey, meathead!” I bellow as loud as I can, “nice tighty whities!”

He’s dark filled eyes glare as he changes his route to charge towards me. He rage-filled roar and rushes at me. _What did mom tell me about this fucker? Something about using sharp turns?_ As he gets closer and closer, I clench my fists and throw myself to the right at the last moments. He head lowers in an effort to nick me with his edged horns. My hands reach towards the stormy grey horn and latch onto it.

He lifts his head and me with it. His head shudders violently trying to throw me off. I wrap my legs around the monster’s neck in an effort to not be launched. My hands become clammy and my body becomes sweat-slicked. With a sharp snap the horn cracks off and I’m left without a handhold. 

Ground Beef, now filled with rage, bellows. His head jolts left and right and in a panic, horn in the right hand, I fling my arms around his head. With a warm _shhhick_ and one last rumble, he turns to dust. I fall straight on my ass, hurt slightly from the fall. _Must have accidentally got him in the eye or something…_

I gasp for breath and head towards Grover. I wrap an arm around him and lug him up the hill. With the tree feet away, I dump Grover and roll his limp body towards it. I gaze at the horn in my hand, give it a small shrug, and place it gently between Grover’s hand. _I_ never _wanna think about that battle again._

I sigh and turn around to go back down the hill. _Ma’s gonna be disappointed if I get home after her, seeing as she always gets so excited to see me when I get home from school. Plus with how I look, I’ll need a shower and a change of clothes. So much for packing a suitcase._


	2. My Step-Father Gets A Nose Job

I look over my shoulder to where I left Grover, laying in the grass at the base of the pine tree. I wondered why he needed so badly to get here. He called it “where we’d be safe.” Honestly, I’m not sure what to make of it. At this point, I was kind of freaking out. Why, you ask?

Well let me see...Maybe because I just beat up and presumably killed a mythical creature.  _ Whose body evaporated. _ Oh, yeah, and I also had an audience of old ladies that were really creepy and way too calm, and they disappeared too! So, basically, I’m in the same situation as I was when I accidentally sorta murdered my pre-algebra teacher.

Naturally, I ran away and ditched my unconscious friend next to a tree by the edge of a strawberry field. No, that wasn’t my proudest moment, I’ll admit, but what can I say? I was slightly terrified and overwhelmed, not to mention probably insane, and I was pretty sure that the unconscious Grover was just part of some insane hallucination. Why else would he steal a car? I mean come on. The most rational thing I could think of to do next was go home.

So I did. I prayed Grover would be okay and that he wouldn’t hate me, and then rummaged through my pockets for some spare change to get a taxi to Manhattan. I may have had to double back and steal a dollar from Grover, but I’ll pay him back, I swear!

In the cab, I looked out the window, watching the night sky. It occurred to me then that it wasn’t night when I had been on the bus and when I’d fought that Minotaur. Just another reason to believe I was losing my marbles. Time has done that thing again where it skips and leaves me behind. The same thing had happened when I fought Mrs. Dodds. 

It was all too much to think about. Not to mention none of it made any sense. As I looked out at the dark horizon, a flash seared my eyes as a fork of lightning darted across the sky. Ow. I love being blind. “Stupid Zeus,” I mutter, laughing softly to myself when I think of how proud Mr. Brunner would be that I know that.

Almost instantly, thunder boomed, so loud that it shook the car I was in. The driver kept driving, more concerned with the traffic then the weather. I, however, spared a thought to the words that Gover had said earlier, “ _ Names have power, Percy.” _

I wondered if maybe he had been serious when he said that. Surely, if Zeus were real, he’d have to be pretty angry to kick up this storm. The thunder and lightning carried on the rest of the way home, accompanied by a heavy and relentless rain.

When we finally got to my building, the rain was still trying it damndest to drown New York. I quickly paid the fare before opening my door and getting inside as quickly as possible. Once at my flat door, I hesitated. Whoops. It was really late. Mom was probably beside herself with worry. I swallowed down my guilt as I turned the door non, tentatively opening the door. Despite how bad I felt about making my mom wait up for me, I was really excited to see her. However, I still felt apprehensive about her husband, my stepfather, Smelly Gabe. 

At this point of the night, the lazy ass would already be passed out on the couch, beer bottle in hand. However, it wasn’t unheard of for him to stay up late if he had buddies over, so he could hit the happy juice until the small hours of the morning. I didn’t want to see him like that. He generally got angry with me, more so than usual, and tried to take it out on me, or, in worse situations, my mom.

Let me tell you a few things about my Mom. My mother, Sally Jackson, is quite possibly the greatest and kindest woman to ever walk this earth. Not to mention beautiful, she has dark hair, with a few graceful steaks of gray, and sparkling blue eyes. But aside from that, the thing that makes her the most beautiful is her smile. No matter how bone-tired she was from her job or how angry she was with Gabe, whenever she looked at me, she wore that beautiful smile of hers. The one that lit up her face and made her eyes crinkle at the corners. It always made her look ten years younger than she was, less wearied by her years of hardships. I loved her, and when she gave me that smile, I knew that she loved me.

Boy was I glad to see her at the kitchen table, with no Gabe in sight. As always, her face lit up when she saw me, and she shot up from where she was to run to me and wrap her arms around me. 

“Percy!” She said, voice filled with relief, “Oh, sweetie, thank heavens you’re okay! You had me beyond worried.”

“I know, mom,” I mumbled guiltily onto the hug, my voice sounding tired, even to me. 

She pulled back from the hug, holding me at arm’s length to inspect me.

“Percy, where were you?! I was about to call the police. You said you’d be home this  _ morning,  _ what are you doing showing up at eleven o'clock at night? And what happened to your clothes!”

She eyed my attire, which was full of dirt and mud, as well as torn to shreds. There may have been a faint glimmer of Minotaur dust in the mix as well. 

I looked down at myself, thinking of how on earth to explain it all. “Ummmmmm….” was the best I could come up with.

Mom looked at me, expectantly. “Percy, I need you to tell me what happened. I won’t get angry, I promise, I just need you to be honest with me. How the hell did you end up like this?!”

Mom says she won’t be mad, but there’s a note of hysteria in her voice. Uh-oh. I can’t let this escalate, I’ve already caused mom enough worry. Any more and she might have a conniption.

I rack my brain for answers. Mom’s gaze bores into me, searching my soul (how does she do that?) making me panic as I try and find something plausible to say.

Me, ever the genius, goes completely brain dead. I mean all thought in my brain ceases to exist, with the exception of the panicked  _ holy shit say something now  _ that was repeating itself on loop.

My lips move of their own accord, spitting out the most random answer ever, any answer but the truth: “Uhhh - BUS!” I all but shout in desperation. I slap myself mentally.  _ Really, Percy, Bus? That’s what you came up with?!  _ But there’s no time to go back on it now. I had to make this work.

Mom was looking at me with her brow furrowed, like, “Is he okay?” She probably thinks I hit my head or something. Mom knows I’m not the brightest, but I’m pretty sure that at that moment she was questioning whether or not I actually possessed any brain matter at all.

I rush to explain further, stumbling over my own words in my haste, “Um, yeah, the bus, there was a b-bus, and, um, I got run over?” 

How did my sure fire explanation turn into a question?  _ SHIT.  _ Why can’t I lie? My mom looks at me skeptically, she knows that isn’t the truth. She raises her eyebrows, a silent prompt to give up the bullshit. Fine, but the truth won't do her any favors. It’ll just make me out to be a worse son. I give it a try anyway.

“Right, um, I killed a cow? That was wearing underwear. And I ditched Grover because he was acting weird and he stole a car,” I say all in one breath.

Bless my mom. Leave it to her to completely disregard all of the nonsense I just spouted and focus on the one thing that matters most: Me ditching Grover.

She looked rather shocked and baffled by that behavior, but she was more concerned with him being okay, “You ditched Grover?! What do you mean,  _ you ditched Grover _ ? I thought you guys were best friends? Why would you do that?”

“Mom, relax, he’s okay. I ditched him at the strawberry farm he wanted to go to. It’s some summer camp or something. That’s where he’s going for summer.”

“Oh thank heavens. I thought you’d maybe just left him at a bus stop or something. Now, what did you say about cows?”

Shoot. Time to distract her. She’s a worried mom, play to that, Percy! 

“Mom, I’m really tired. Is it okay if we talk about this tomorrow?”

Mom opens her mouth, hesitating before she answers. It’s obvious she doesn’t want to postpone this conversation, seeing as it’s fairly importantly. However, I win out in the end. She sighs and rubs her forehead, taking a step back from me. “Of course, Percy. I know you must have had a long day. You go ahead and get some sleep and we’ll talk when you’re ready.”

She doesn’t want me to feel pressured and I couldn’t thank her more for that. I honestly didn’t know how to feel about today and I wasn’t ready for this conversation. How do you tell your mother that you think you’re insane? 

Thankfully, I retire to my room, not even bothering to change out of my clothes before collapsing on my bed (not very hygienic, I know. Don’t judge, okay?).

Sleep took me immediately but with a savage grip that refused to let me go. Dreams of old ladies, bat-hags, cow-people, and thunderous ocean storms riddled my mind, and I tossed fitfully long into the night.

———————————-

Luke walked out to Thalia’s pine tree early in the morning, going to go see her as the sun rose before heading to breakfast. Although this was a regular routine for him, he found that today held something rather surprising in store for him.

When he arrived at the tree, he found his good friend Grover passed out at the base of it, mouth hanging open and drool dripping down his chin. He cuddled something close to his chest as he snored. Was that...a horn? Ummm, okay, this was a little weird, even for Grover. Sure, the kid was in love with nature, but he usually had more self respect than to fall asleep in his clothes next to a tree, especially where everyone could see him.

Luke nudged him with the toe of his shoe, wondering why Grover was at camp in the first place. Wasn’t he supposed to be looking after some half blood he’d just found? The only reason he’d be here was if he had succeeded in bringing the kid back to camp. But if that was the case...then where was the kid?

He nudged Grover again, harder this time, in an effort to wake him up. No good. Grover mumbled something about, “I’ll take the aluminum, thanks,” as he rolled towards Luke losing the horn as he reached out to cuddle Luke’s shoe instead.

“Get off!” Luke mumbled in exasperation. This kid would sleep through anything, wouldn’t he? He shook his leg free and took a step back, to evade Grover’s grasp. As he lined up a kick to Grover’s furry hind quarters, the glint of the horn caught his eye, it was reflecting the rising morning sun, and in the bright light there could be no mistaking it.

“A Minotaur horn?” He mumbled, looking at the ground around Grover, which he noticed now was torn up and muddy. What in the hell had happened here? He looked down at Grover, who lay sleeping peacefully in the grass.

_ Well, not for long. Sorry buddy, but I need answers. _

And without further ado, he gave Grover a swift kick, waking the satyr who yelpled in surprise, followed by a fair amount of scrambling around as the kid tried to get his bearings.

The first words out of his mouth were, “Percy! Shit! Oh fuck, not again!”

“Um what?” Luke said, raising an eyebrow as Grover practically jumped out of his skin before turning to look at him, seemingly only just realizing Luke was there.

“Luke!” He exclaimed, “Quick! Help me find Percy!”

“Did you sleep out here all night? How long has it been since you got here?”

Grovers face drained of color, “Ummm… Yesterday. Percy’s not here anymore, is he?”

“Probably not, no. So unless he’s wandering around camp, then he’s probably out wandering New York. What happened? Do I need to get Chiron?”

“No!” Grover hastily said, “You can’t get Chiron. It can’t happen again. This time I have to succeed. I can’t let another demigod fall into danger and not make it to camp.” At that, Grover’s eyes wandered to the tree, mournfully taking in the sight of the girl whom he had failed to rescue several years ago, the same night he had brought Luke and Annabeth to camp. He had bitten off more than he could chew, trying to bring back three demigods on his first assignment, all of which had been children of the Council, one of which had been a child of the Big Three.

But he couldn’t very well leave any behind. And so in a desperate hope, he tried to drag all three back to camp, nearly losing his life in the process, fighting up until he fell unconscious on the hill. When he’d come to, he’d found that Luke had saved him and Annabeth, dragging them over the border, while Thalia fought and held her ground behind them, keeping the pursuing monsters at bay. There she took a fatal blow and fell, right where the camp border met the outside world. As she drew her last breath, her father, Zeus, took pity on her and turned her into a pine tree to preserve her life. 

Grover must’ve felt atrocious. It was the second time he had managed to fall unconscious just moments before securing a demigod’s safety.

Luke looked down at his feet remembering that night. He felt horrible about it, but he couldn’t begin to imagine the level of guilt that Grover had to have weighing down on him. “Okay,” he said, “I won’t tell Chiron. We’ll just have to go and find him together. It’s still early, if we leave now they won’t know we’re gone for another hour at least. What’s his name? Percy? Do you know where he lives?”

“Um, yeah, I do. I found it in the school records.”

Luke snorted, “Okay, stalker, lead the way. Let me quickly go get some cash for a cab, though.” 

Pretty soon they were off, on their way to find Percy.

——————————-

I awoke late the next morning, just missing my mom before she headed out to work. When I initially got out of bed, I could already hear the TV running in the next room. Smelly Gabe was already awake, then. 

I cracked open my door, and surveyed the next room. Light from the TV illuminated the place, putting on display the ugly scene before me.

Smelly Gabe sat his grimy ass on the couch, wearing stained clothes he probably hadn’t changed in a week. He lazed about, a half eaten bowl of cereal on the coffee table in front of him next to discarded beer cans. A fly buzzed lazily above him.

As abominable of a sight it was, I had one thing going for me. Gabe was distracted by the TV. I would be able to get past him and to the kitchen without being noticed if I was quiet enough.

I opened my door more and got down low to the floor, taking one last look around the place to make sure he didn't have any of his buddies over. Then, I proceeded to army crawl out, Mission Impossible style, hoping that if I stayed low enough, I wouldn’t catch the man's eye.

I was halfway to my destination when it happened. At this point, I was directly next to the arm of the couch on which Gabe laid. I was working so hard to keep quiet and not draw attention to myself, the only noises in the room being from the program on the screen. 

But suddenly, a God-awful sound ripped through the air, stealing from me my courage, and more importantly, my ability to breathe. 

Gabe has farted.

Now, you may have been able to tell from his nickname, but when Gabe farts, it’s no small matter. Getting caught by that was the equivalent of a WWI soldier being caught in a cloud of mustard gas while trapped in a trench. 

I held my breath as I tried my damndest to reach the kitchen, so I might be able to escape. However, fate wasn’t gonna have any of that. Just then my gag reflex kicked in, trying to save my life, and forced me to cough.  _ Shit. There’s no way he didn’t hear that. _

Sure enough, I hear a grunt from behind me, indicating that the small amount of intelligence within my step father had acknowledged my presence.  _ Fuck. I was really hoping I’d be able to get away without him realizing I was home. _

`“Percy? You good for nothing runt, what’re you doing here? Answer me, boy! When did you get back?”

Slowly, I stood up and turned to face the eyesore of a man. Maybe if I was really nice he’d leave me alone. Then I’d be able to leave him alone. Mom always asks me to be good to him, even though we don’t get along. As it’s my first day back, I was determined not to stir up any more trouble, both for my mom’s sake, and for my own. I had stumbled into way too much bull-shit in the last day to be able to take any more.

Unluckily for me, my genius plan of not getting into trouble wasn’t quite going to work out in my favor. Remember that thing about me having ADHD? Well, turns out, it acts up really badly at all the wrong times. Like when I’m trying to be nice to Gabe. Suddenly, my mind decides it doesn’t want to focus on what Gabe is saying. Things like what he’s asking and commands such as “answer me” sound like a bunch of unintelligible gobbledygook.

Naturally, I respond with the ever-eloquent “Huh?...,” that I’m known for.

Gabe is infuriated by it.

He goes off spewing some garbage on, “why do I even bother paying you to go to that prestigious school,” as though he’s actually the one working and paying for my education, all the while making sure to call me things like, “ungrateful brat” and “retarded waste of space.”

As you can tell, Gabe’s a real classy kind of a guy.

I stand there and take it like a champ, internally fuming as he spits in my face, rank breath further poisoning the air. He actually went as far as to drag himself off the couch to come and yell at me. After a while, he told me that he didn’t care that I was back, just to make myself scarce for a while because his poker buddy Rodney was coming over. Right. Like I was gonna stick around to watch them smoke, drink, and fart. Why the hell would I wanna be here for one of his poker parties? Whatever. I refrained from running my mouth and just retreated to my room, forgetting about breakfast. 

——————————————

Luke and Grover stood outside of the door, presumably to where this kid Percy lived. According to Grover, he was one of the strongest demigods they ever had in camp, his scent only rivaled by Thalia’s. Luke snorted, thinking about it. Only Grover would manage to get himself into this big a load of trouble on his second assignment. Honestly, the guy was a magnet for trouble. 

Luke approached the door, raising his hand to knock, but was stopped by Grover, who quickly wrapped a hand around Luke’s wrist, halting it in its path.

“Wait!” He said, nose raised in the air as he took a few sniffs.

Luke had always marveled at the satyr’s sense of smell. Capable of tracking half-bloods, hunting enchiladas, and identifying monsters from days old trails, a satyr’s sense of smell was nearly unrivaled.

“What is it?” Luke asked, now more cautious than before.

“I don’t know. At first I didn’t smell it, what with Percy’s scent being so strong, but it’s something horrible. There’s definitely someone else, or something else, here with him.”

_ Shit. If a monster gets to Percy before we do, then we need to act fast! Not a moment to lose. _

Luke raised his hand and knocked on the door, resting the enemy’s reaction and trying to get a feel for what they might be up against. He drew his sword, Apokalyftheís, from his pocket. A gift from his father, it was a magical weapon that was able to be concealed in any space, or disguised as any wearable accessory.

They waited, tense, until they heard a reply, “Rod? That you? You have a key, what’re ya doin lollygagging about out there? Come in!”

Luke looked at Grover, lifting a brow. Well, that sounded like an invitation to him! He tried the knob, but of course found that it was locked. Not a problem. Luke was, of course, an experienced lock-pick by trade. It came with being a thief for the majority of one’s childhood.

Within seconds, Luke had whipped out his lock pick, specially designed by himself and manufactured by one of his good friends in the Hephaestus cabin, and got to work on the lock. In a moment, it clicked open. Luke pocketed the tool and readied his weapon once more, nodding to Grover to get the door. 

In position, Grover slowly turned the knob, and then quickly pushed the door back, hopping out of the way so that Like could rush in.

Silently, Luke crept forward, cringing slightly as he heard Grover clumsily follow behind him. He tiptoed past the kitchen table, approaching the doorway to the TV room. Grover grunted in pain as he bumped into the corner of a counter rather forcefully. Next time, Luke thought, he’d just tell Grover to keep look-out or something.

He sprung through the door, brandishing his sword at his target, a fat man whom he found sitting on the couch.

“Where is he? What have you done with Percy!” Luke yelled, surprising his target.

The man grunted in confusion, looking up at Luke as his pea brain tried to process the information before him.  _ Percy? What? That worthless rat had gone and joined some gang, bringing this riff-raff into his home! _ Gabe’s face contorted in anger as he pointed a chubby finger at Luke’s nose, not realizing he had a sword pointed at him, “You little rat! Get out of my home before I beat you out of it! I won’t stand for this. I’ll have that Percy boy out of my home, Sally will have to send him away for this!”

With that he jumped up, lunging at Luke to wrap his hands around the boy’s throat. Luke grunted in surprise as his sword passed right through the man. He was just a mortal!

Gabe collided with Luke, crashing into him and bringing them both down to the floor with a BOOM! that shook the flat.

Luke struggles with the weight of the smelly fat man atop of him, trying to wrestle his way out from beneath the sweaty mass. “Ugh! Get off me!”

He dropped the sword, recognizing its uselessness, and used both hands to shove the man off of him, sending him flying. At this point, Grover had joined in on the fight, bravely removing his foam stuffed-shoes to kick the man assaulting his friend.

“Die! Die, foul smelling abomination!” He yelled as he pummeled the man with his cloven hooves.

The man on the ground turned his attention to Grover, and Luke took the opportunity to exploit the distraction, jumping on top of the man and pinning him to the ground. Grover stopped his kicking to hold the man's arms down while Luke raised a fist, ready to knock this guy’s lights out and eliminate the threat to the demi-god.

At that moment, a door that lead off of the room opened, and a black haired teen looked around at the chaos before saying, “What the  _ fuck _ is going on?!”

His eyes landed first on his best friend, who was helping hold down his angrily swearing step-father, then to the blonde boy whom he’d never seen before poised ready to punch the man, and finally to Grover feet, which had mysteriously been replaced with animal hooves.

Luke stared at the kid, who’s dark hair was still messy as though he’d just woken up. There was a beat of silence before Gabe started to struggle again and barked out at Percy, “Well, don’t just stand there, help me you useless-“

Luke brought his fist down, causing a loud crack as the man's nose collapsed, spitting out blood. He stopped talking, losing consciousness immediately.

There was a beat of awkward silence as Percy and Luke continued to stare at each other. Then Percy’s eyes wandered back to Grover’s hooves again before his eyes rolled up into his skull and he promptly fainted.

Grover and Luke shared a look. “Now what?” Luke asked.


	3. My Kidnappers Force Me to Play War Games

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How Percy got to camp and what happens there...(Sorry, I kinda suck at summaries)

With an ungraceful and loud snort, my eyes shoot open and my body seizes. Laying on my right side I’m clasping the upper arm of a boy I don’t recognize. I look up only to instantly make eye-contact with the boy. 

“You- uh... _ drooled _ a little on my shoulder.” He points out as my body retreats from his side.

My mind still muddled from unconsciousness I stutter out an embarrassed apology, “Um-I-ah sorry…” I wipe the side of my mouth and the sleeve of his bright orange T-shirt. The faded picture of a pegasus and the words  _ Camp Half-Blood _ are printed on it hint at how long he’s probably had this shirt. On his cheek, a large scar intrudes on his face. It angled up towards his eye just centimeters short of it. I sit up, still facing him slightly, his baby blue eyes following my movements. The dark-chocolate brown faux-leather upholstery squeaks under my readjustment. As I take a glance at the window behind him, it hits me.  _ I’m in a car with a man I don’t know, not remembering how I got in here. Well, fuck. _

I gulp and give the man an angry look and steel my voice to try to be as threatening as I can, “Who are you, and how the  _ fuck _ did I get in this taxi?!” I grasp the front of his shirt, my hand slightly shaking. I scowl at him, knowing that this guy could probably take me in a fight due to his height and age. He gives me an unimpressed look and raises an eyebrow as if to ask  _ you think you take me in a fight, kid? _

“Percy! Settle down!” A familiar voice pipes behind me.

I spin around, the pleather on the taxi creaking. “Settle down? Settle-Grover! What the hell is going on? First I’m being attacked by my  _ apparently _ fever dreamt bat of a woman Math Teacher, then by some big cow in his Fruit of the Loom undies, and now I’m being kidnapped by my best friend who apparently is half- _ goat _ and some blonde dude with a sword!” I shout, surprisingly not catching the attention of the driver.

“I’ll explain when we get to camp.”

I glare, not patient enough to wait any longer for answers I rightfully deserve. I exhale sharply through my nose and turn forwards. 

“So you’re the one who gave Grover the Minotaur horn?”

I look at the blondie lounging next to me. 

“Uh- yea, you’re actually calling him by his name? I thought those had power or something.”

He waves his hand at me, “They do, but I don’t really care.”

I give him a small chuckle. 

He holds out his right hand towards me, his left arm reclining on the backseat’s ledge, “Luke.”

I give him a small smile and take his offer of a handshake. I open my mouth to respond, but he holds up his hand before I can finish. “It’s Percy, I know. Grover told me. Now about that kidnapping thing...I mean technically, yes we did kidnap you but it’s for good reason.”

“Oh yeah ‘cause taking someone hostage is always the right solution,” I sass, raising an eyebrow at him.

“We needed you at camp!”

“Y’know you could’ve just asked, right?”

“You passed out!”

**“** Ya could’ve waited till I woke up dipshit.”

“We’re on time constraints here. We gotta get back to camp before lunch. Which is in,” he leans towards me to look at the time display on the front of the car, “an hour.”

“Well, that’s your own fault now is it?”

He glares at me and I do the same to him.

“Guys! It was my fault!”

Luke and I’s heads turn towards him and we respond at the same time, “No it’s not!” I make eye-contact with Luke and blush, slightly embarrassed. I look back at Grover pushing what had just happened in the inner corners of my mind.

“I’m the one who wasn’t able to stay awake to bring Percy back to camp and was the one to suggest just taking Percy to camp with us…”

I sigh. I look up from the floor of the taxi and offer Grover some combination, “Well, G’ man. If you tell me what’s all going on, I’ll forgive ya.”

“Deal!”

——————————————

After 20 minutes on a drive that felt like forever, Grover had finally finished his explanation of what's been going on.  _ Huh, so greek myths are real and I’m  _ not  _ going crazy. That’s good to know.  _

“So you’ve all explained what’s happened to me specially and the basics but like...what about Zeus? I remember you were talking to Mr. Brunner about him a while back.” 

“Oh yeah...It’s not really my place to say really...god stuff. You’re better off asking Chiron about it.” Grover curls in on himself, looking disappointed that he couldn’t tell me.

“Chiron?”

“Mr. Brunner.”

“Ah, okay. No sweat G’ man, uh thanks for telling me everything you can. I...really appreciate it.”

Interrupting our bro-moment, Luke cuts in with a “we’re here” and ushers all of us out the cab.  _ I’d offer to pay but I don’t have any money on me and if I did...well... it would be given to a taxi ride with multiple people. What can I say? I’m a cheap bastard. Money doesn't grow on trees, especially for 14-year-olds like me.  _

“So, we just...go past the tree and we’re at camp?”

Luke nods at my question and walks up the hill with me following closely behind. A we pass the pine tree Luke turns his head towards it and gives it a mourning look. Grover does the same. I’m hesitant to ask about it since it seems to be a sore subject. In the end, I decided not to ask, I may not do well in school but I’m pretty good at reading people and their emotions. I guess I get from my mom, she’s better than I am.  _ I learned from the best if you will. _

As we hike down the hill, I spot a bunch of teens playing a round of volleyball, some being more violent with the ball than others. To the left of the court is a large blue suburban two-story house. Following Luke and Grover, we head towards it.

On the porch of the house two men are sitting playing what seems to be Blackjack on a worn-in ping-pong table. A blond girl with steely grey eyes is arguing with one of the men. As we approach closer and closer she groans and stomps off the porch towards the large cabins behind it.

One of the men sitting at the table wearing the  _ fugliest _ Hawaiian shirt I’ve  _ ever _ seen scowls as he looks at me, “another brat?” His eyes then flip between Grover and Luke. “Thanks, Gavin and Levi. You’re really makin’ my life easier.” He comments, his eyes now back to me. This sarcastic declaration seems to draw the attention of the other man sitting across from him. 

“Ah! Percy! You’re here! I was worried Grover forgot about you when I found him asleep on top of the hill.”

Both Grover and Luke’s eyes bulged at the comment.

“You mean… You knew I had lost him?” Grover inquired limply.

“I assumed so. But, since you needed some redemption from your last mission I decided to leave it all up to you. Granted with some help, but you did it none the less.”

Luke groaned. “We’ve explained the basics to him. Want me to show ‘im around camp?”

“That sounds great, my boy. Grover has to speak to the Council and Dionysus over here about his searcher’s license anyway.”

Luke nods and motions me to follow him. 

——————————————

Nearing the end of the Camp Half-Blood tour, we finally reached the cabins. Before the tour, Luke had mentioned leaving the cabins for last, mumbling to himself about a certain blood-thirsty cabin and some girl named Clarisse. He points to certain cabins and says a god’s name that seems to match that particular cabin. 

Halfway through our tour of the cabins, a lady with long wavy onyx hair and sapphire eyes approaches with a bright smile and a shout of Luke’s name.

“Oh hey, Silena! How’s the Aphrodite cabin?”

“It’s good, but nevermind that! Who’s this cutie?” She gives me a fond smile, reminiscent of my mother’s in an odd sort of way. I give her an awkward smile and avoid eye-contact. She gets closer and bends down the slight height difference we have. She grabs my cheeks between her well-manicured nails and gives my face a good look down. 

“Uh...Silena?” Luke comments, noticing my discomfort.

“Hush! I’m getting a good look at ‘im. Is your birth father around? Or does your birth mother take care of you?” She scolds Luke then questions me.

“Uh...My birth mother?” I respond. It sounded more like a question than an answer.

“Damn, if I didn’t know any better I’d say you’re a son of Aphrodite! You are just the cutest!” She gives my face a final shake and lets go.  _ I feel like she’s my aunt or something. Pinchy pinchy, like a crab. _

“Welp, I better go, lunch is 10 minutes, and getting my siblings out the cabin and in the Mess Hall on time is always a doozy.” She runs towards a bright pink cabin still turned and waving to us. I give her a polite but uncontrollable wave back.

After a few seconds of silence passed between Luke and I before he interrupted it, “You...ah know she wasn’t hitting on you right?”

I pause to look at Luke. “Yeah..? It’s a little oblivious she was treating me more like a baby brother or cousin than a possible love interest.”  _ Like I said before, reading people is  _ much _ easier than reading an actual book but that’s honestly not saying much since I can barely read due to my crippling case of dyslexia. Just trust me on this, please. I got to be somewhat successful at SOMETHING. _

“If we only got 10 minutes till lunch then we better head over to the Hermes cabin and get you settled in.”

“Hermes cabin? I thought I was unclaimed?”

Luke shrugs and continues, “Well, yeah but all unclaim-”

Luke’s answer is cut off by the chuckle of a beef-cake of a woman standing behind him. Her hair was choppy, like she asked a local lumberjack to cut her hair with chainsaw then took it into her own hands and did it herself after he refused. The sleeves of her version of Luke’s T-shirt were ripped off and she sported baggy army pants with enough tears and mysterious dark red crusty stains to leave you wondering,  _ why does she still have these pants? _ ’

“Clarisse,” Luke deadpans as he turns around to face the brute behind him.

“Who’s the new meat,  _ Scarface? _ ” At the nickname, Luke gives her a hard glare. She smirks and gives him a sly chuckle.

“Do you really have to harass every new camper or does your ego need a boost?” Luke snarks, giving her a scowl.  _ Shit’s gettin’ tense _ .  _ I best get out of here, but I don’t know where the Hermes cabin is, so I’m severely fucked.  _ I stand behind Luke, just a few inches shorter than everyone around me.  _ Are all campers taking some kind of height drug? I’m small as shit compared to these people! Doesn’t help I haven’t hit the jackpot that is a growth spurt. If I’m stuck at 5’6 for the rest of my life, I’m blaming my went-to-go-get-milk-but-I-haven’t-seen-him-since of a father. Whoever you are, curses! _

“Har, har. Hand him over.” “Clarisse threatens while cracking her knuckles like a stereotypical middle-school bully. 

Luke stands his ground unimpressed by her display. Time drags as the two campers in front of me continue to stare at each other.  _ If I didn’t know any better I’d say they were in love with how much eye-contact and tension there is between them… _

A few yards in front of me, a savior arrives. The motherly-scolding that comes out of Silena’s mouth aimed towards her siblings is like music to my ears. Looking back at Luke and Clarisse, I weigh the chances of me getting out of here. I wave my hand frantically trying to get the attention of the blue-eyed beauty.  _ Silena! Look at me! Help! _

In a harsh whisper, I yell out her name as she nears the group. Hearing her name, Silena looks around for a moment then finally her eyes lock onto mine. She stops her group of pampered pink siblings to look at me. I stare at her, jerk my head towards Luke and Clarisse, and mouth a panicked ‘ _ help _ ’. She nods then whispers to a girl next to her checking out her cuticles. I gulp and wait for Silena to form a plan to get me out. Silena’s group is huddled together whispering. Flicking my eyes from Silena to Luke I await their plan of action.  _ They better come through, there’s no way I’m going  _ anywhere _ with a girl who has the personality of a weed wacker. _

The harsh whisper of my name disturbs my thoughts. Silena gives me a determined look and mouths ‘follow my lead’. I nod, a bit worried about what’s going on in her head. 

“Clarisse!” Silena shouts running towards her, her groups of siblings off to the side looking at me. “Are you bothering Luke again? You two need to get along better! Are you…” She trails on rambling about anything on her mind. I feel a soft hand grasp my arm and lightly pull me away. 

“Let’s go. Silena can only distract Ms. Busted-Nails for so long.” an unknown blonde girl says pulling me inside of their group huddle. We walk forward as a group and for the first time ever I thank my genes that I’m short enough to hide in the middle of this so-called Aphrodite posse. 

——————————————

The shout of Clarisse’s name stunts the pair out of their glaring show-down. The two stare at Silena as she latches onto Clarisse and gives her a big smile before mother-henning the shit out of her. Luke looks at the odd pair, still confused that these two are somehow  _ friends _ and good ones at that.

A group of well-dressed campers,  _ probably Aphrodite _ , subtly walk past Luke shifting their position to behind him once they fully pass him and Clarisse. If Luke had his hands full with Silena, he wouldn’t have realized that the crowd of beautiful campers had just snatched Percy, but unlike Clarisse, who was being verbally assaulted by Silena, he wasn’t being distracted by a rambling daughter of Aphrodite.  _ She’s good. _

Luke chuckles as he watches the scene unfold. As the band of Aphrodite campers retreat from the scene of crime, Silena lets up on her nagging. Clarisse sighs, finally getting a break from Selena's speech.

“Anything else ‘lena?” 

“Not that I can think of, other than being nice to new campers…” Silena trails off giving her glare saying something around the lines of  _ we’ve been through this before _ .

“I ain’t hurtin’ them! Just..preparing them for the world past the boundaries of camp.”

Silena raises an eyebrow and continues, “by shoving their heads in grimy toilets?” 

“Uh-yeah.” Clarisse surprisingly looks sheepish. _Color me surprised._ _Never thought that Violence-is-my-middle-name had any emotions other than malice-filled amusement and burning anger._

__ They continue to talk, seemingly forgetting Luke who stood just a few feet ahead of them. Sighing, he gave the pair a final look down and began his trek to the Mess Hall before it was too late.

“HEY!”

Luke freezes and looks behind him to stare at Clarisse. 

“Where’d that blue-eyed-” 

“Teal!” Silena pipes up, preventing Clarisse from proceeding.

Clarisse gives Silena an exasperated look before continuing and correcting herself,” _ teal _ -eyed brat go!? I’m not letting him off the hook!”

Silena’s eyes bored into Clarisse’s. Shockingly, she gulps and tries to take back what she said. 

“Fine! I’ll go easy on the kid. He  _ is  _ the size of my thigh.” Clarisse waves off Silena and sends Luke a final glare before walking past the two and towards the mess hall.

“You planned that didn’t you?” Luke asks.

“Yeah...Like I said before, he’s a cutie and us cuties got to stick together. Whether he’s a son of Aphrodite or not.” She gives him a warm smile and runs off, trailing Clarisse. 

——————————————

I, thankfully, made it to the mess hall without incident. If I could make Silena a goddess I would in a heartbeat.  _ I can see it now, Silena, goddess of excellent ideas, tamer of violent beasts, and savior of idiots and me her humble whatever the male term of a handmaiden is. _

I stood at the entrance a bit confused.  _ Um, where the  _ hell  _ am I supposed to sit? _ After standing awkwardly to the side for about five minutes I get bombarded by two gangly arms wrapping around my neck.

“Well, hello there! You seem lost. Doesn’t he seem lost, Travis?”

“Well, of course, dear brother! We  _ must _ assist a camper in need!”

“We’ve never seen you around here, so you must be new!”

“By Jove! I think you might be right Connor!”

“And how do we help new campers, dearest brother?”

“By stealing their wallet!?”

The taller of the two’s eyes widen and he quickly replies, “No!” he chuckles sheepishly, “We would  _ never _ …” he pats my arm and gives me a  _ very _ fake smile.

“I don’t have any money on me anyway. I was kidnapped from my home less than an hour ago so…”

The two boys unclasp their arms from around me and visibly deflate. They give me a synchronized sigh of defeat.

“Well, I guess we can still help you..”

“You  _ do _ look weird just standing there..”

“Wow, thanks. Can you tell me where I’m supposed to be sitting? Is there like a designated unclaimed table or what?”

The two brothers stare at me before busting a gut at my question. 

Connor, the taller of the two  _ and possibly the older _ , wheezes before answering, “Unclaimed table! Ha! You’re funny...uh…”

“Percy.”

He gives me a devious smirk before continuing, “Percy! I think we’re all gonna get along  _ just  _ fine…”  _ Oh no… _

——————————————

After being at camp for a couple of weeks, I’ve met almost everyone at camp. I figured out who that one blonde was that was on the porch the first day I arrived. Her name is Annabeth and contrary to my first impression of her she’s actually quite nice. The reason for her argument with Chiron was about a quest. Apparently, she’s been wanting to go on one since the first time she’s heard of them and kinda won’t shut up about them. Also, she has the most obvious crush on Luke and it’s the weirdest thing. Not ‘cause she’s 14 and he’s 17 but that Luke obviously sees her as a sister. 

Anyhoo, Luke’s been training me in the art of  _ the blade _ . After Chiron had given me the same sword I violently murdered Ms. Dodds with, Luke thought it’d be a good idea to teach me how to use it. My sword, Anaklusmos, is pretty rad. Like, I could yeet the bitch into the sea and it would come back to me in a matter of seconds. Luke’s Apokalyftheís was admittedly pretty cool as well. Apparently it could transform into any tool but I haven’t seen it in action yet. 

“My main man Percy! Perce! Perseus!” Connor yells getting my attention.

I chuckle at Connor’s call as I stroll towards him taking my time. 

I sit beside him at the campfire in the center of the cabin U. “‘Sup Stoll #1.”

“Wha- why is he Stoll #1? I’m obviously the better Stoll!” Travis pipes up grabbing my attention.

“It’s ‘cause I’m better Travis. I’m older  _ and _ wiser than you’ll ever be.”

“Emphasis on older you codger!” Travis shouts pushing his brother’s arm.

They begin to push and tug on each other but before a real fight could begin I mentioned why they called me over. They both freeze hands grasping t-shirts and fists pulled back.

“Why did we call him over again brother?” Connor asks Travis’s t-shirt still latched in his fist. 

“War games remember?” Travis replies as they finally let go of each other.

“Oh yeah...So anyway we’re playing Capture the Flag later tonight and the Athena cabin’s leading our side of the battle.”

“Oh okay...Anything else?”

“By the way, you should probably be worried about Clarisse or just the Ares cabin in general. They’ve had their eyes on you since Silena saved your ass on your first day. With Clarisse now able to initiate the initiation under the guise of playing offense, you’re kinda in deep shit.”  _ Well, I’m fucked. Utterly fucked. RIP for me I guess. Guess I’ll have to either suck it up and get the ever-loving shit beat out of me or I get someone to help me.  _

”So uh…” I’m cut off before I’m finished.

“Hell no,” the two brothers respond in unison.  _ Goddammit.  _ “You could ask Luke. He and Clarisse have a huge rivalry together and he’d totally be up for ruining her plans.”  _ Nice! _

I quickly jog away from the pair of brothers and go ahead and look for Luke. Knowing he has to teach sword lessons, I head over to where the class is. I step into the room and spot him leaning against a wall watching some of the younger campers spar. I head over to him weaving through spar matches to reach him.

“What’s up Perce?” His arms are crossed and his knee is bent slightly to balance his weight against the wall. 

“So the thing is...Clarisse’s kinda out for my neck and I’ll need help getting her off my back in the Capture the Flag game.” 

He gives me a short laugh and rubs his forehead before pushing himself off the wall to walk towards me. “Anything to piss Clarisse off, it’s basically my job nowadays.” I chuckle at his statement. 

“So..that’s a yes?”

“Hell yeah.”

——————————————

“So here’s the plan. I’ve bribed the Stolls into taking your original job of guarding the flag.”

“And how much did that cost you?”

“Dessert for a month.”

“Yours?”

“Nope, yours!” He laughs at me, enjoying my pain.

I gape at him.  _ This asshole just gave my well-deserved dessert. FOR A MONTH. If you weren’t helping me with Clarisse, I’d wring your neck.  _ “You asshole!”

“Yeah yeah I know. Comes with the job.” 

I answer back with only a huff.

“I can share mine with you so stop pouting,”  _ I am  _ not  _ pouting _ . “Now, the rest is pretty easy. Since Clarisse’s expecting you at the flag she’ll be on offense aka nowhere near where we’ll be going.”

I send him a confused look.

“Let me explain, me and you are gonna be working together to get the flag.”

“Oh okay. So we’re gonna be all sneaky and stuff?”

“Exactly.”

——————————————

“Perce..Your armor’s all janky.” Luke points out.

Being my ever-eloquent self I replied with my signature, “Huh?” before turning around to face him.

“It’s like you pulled every strap a random amount then called it good.” a few silent seconds pass between us. “That’s exactly what you did isn't it?”

“Yea”, I have enough shame to be a bit embarrassed. He gives me an exhausted but fond sigh like I’ve aged him 10 years by saying that. He pulls me closer and to the side to readjust my wonky armour.  _ I feel like a run-away toddler getting his backpack child leash readjusted. Luke, my backpack leash better be a shark or I’m gonna slip out of this thing faster than Grover on enchilada day. _ With a tight final tug, Luke smacks my chestplate and nods, giving me the go that he's finished. 

“You are  _ swimming _ in that armour.”

“Well, it doesn’t help that you are the size of the jolly green giant and I haven't reached my growth spurt yet.”

“Isn’t it a bit late for a growth spurt?”  _ Gods I hope not. _

“Well, let’s just say that if I’m gonna have to stay 5’6 for the rest of my life I’m gonna kill someone so I can steal their body and replace their brain with mine.”

“Ambitious.”

“Thanks.”

Luke and I continue to talk, ignoring Chiron's speech about ‘magical items’ and ‘no maiming or killing’. The sound of a conch horn suspends our conversation and kicks our asses into gear. Luke sprints ahead and I follow closely behind.

Our feet pound against the dirt, dodging both trees and roots in our path. The monotone colors of pine tree green and brown are all I see as it all blurs together as we pass. The loud war-cries of most likely Ares kids echo through the trees getting more distant and foreign the longer we run. I can begin to hear the slight pant in my breath as we reach the end of the tree line. We come to a gradual stop and sneak behind a tree trying to locate the flag.

“There”, Luke pants out his breath barely labored unlike mine. He points at a blood-soaked flag being guarded by a group of smaller campers. 

“If we come from behind we won’t have to fight to grab the flag. We can just grab it and run.” 

“Sounds great, you grab it I’ll lead the way.” I nod at him as we begin to execute our simple but hopefully effective plan.

We both sneak our way behind the horde of campers. Luke gives me a final nod and dead sprints towards the flag. He passes it, ramming into the group of campers parting it like the Red Sea.  _ I guess I’m Moses..or maybe that’s Luke ‘cause he’s the one who parted it. Then who am I? The Jews? Let’s go with that, I’m not well-read on Chritianisty. Granted, I’m not well-read in general. _

I weave through the bodies of fallen teens and trail after Luke. I’m panting, thighs and calves aching from sprinting for an extended period of time.  _ God, I need some more exercise. And maybe a diet. Perhaps giving the Stolls my dessert for a month will be good for me. Still gonna suck though. _

As me and Luke near the creek I hear the one thing I’ve been dreading, Clarisse, “PRISSY!” I gulp looking behind me at the fury-faced woman herself. I yelp and quicken my pace, but due to my less than stellar legs she catches up to me quickly.

“Luke!” I shriek, trying to get him attention. He looks back at a terrified me ready to chuck the flag to him. “Catch!” I throw the flag like what I’ve been doing to my sword for a few days now.

The crimson flag soars and time seems to slow as the flag gets closer and closer to Luke reaching grasp. Time continues as regular when I’m tackled by a quarter-back of a woman. I let a sharp exhale as all my breath leaves my body.

“You-” Clarisse’s tyraid is put to a stop as my team erupts in cheers. I let out a sigh of relief.  _ Silena can now return to her scheduled job of saving me from this brute. _

“Clarisse…” I hear Silena say in a motherly voice.

“Yeah yeah, I’m leaving him alone. You’re lucky Prissy, I was feeling like an artist today, specifically Picasso…” My face pales.  _ Thank the gods for Luke and Silena _ . She sits up from the seat that is me and walks towards Silena. 

Luke offers me a hand, “it’s the least I can do. You did help us win the game.”

I use his assistance and brush myself off, picking off clumps of dirt and grass latched onto my clothes. I give Luke a happy sigh and smile and thank him for helping me out once more.

However, my happiness doesn’t last long. To my right, a long and low rumbling noise emitted from the dark shade of a grove of trees. A panicked shout of my name grabs my attention as a large dog enters my peripheral vision just inches away. I turned towards it, panicked.

A big claw swings outwards, catching me in its wake sending me flying me right into the creek on my right. As the beast tackles me, I catch a glimpse of it. Long teeth mash at my face, inches from contact. It’s hackles were raised, and it’s fur coat made of pure black night. Then it’s gone and I’m falling into the creek behind me. Blood sprays caught by my shirt before it's stopped by an unknown force. My back scraps against the stones and wet dirt of the bottom of the creek. Shouts of my name are all but distant up until my head rises from the water. Luke’s arms wrap around my torso pulling me out of the creek. 

“Holy shit! A hellhound! An actual live hellhound! But how did it get past the border?” I hear a voice ask.

“Chiron, was this here on purpose? As a sort of challenge?” Another asked. 

“Is the new kid dead?” Connor!?

“Damn it. We just made a trade that involved his dessert, too,” Yep. And that was Travis.  _ Those chucklefucks. _

“Perce? Are you okay? How are you still  _ alive? _ ” Luke is looking down at me, worried, where I half-lay, half-sit in the muddy bank.

The sound of pattering hooves reach my ears. “My boy! Are you alright?” I look over at him, just next to Luke. On the ground at the centaur’s feet lay the body of a large black dog, slowly disintegrating in the wind. Luke’s sword lay beside it, discarded. 

Luke, seeing my line of sight, shifts his body to block my view. Again he asks me, “Are you okay?” This time with a bit more urgency.

I reached my hands underneath my shirt, so I could feel my side where I was sliced. At first, I’m terrified. I can feel warm blood seeping through my fingers. Tentatively, my hands scrabble to find the wound that was weeping the fluid. To my surprise, however, my hands glazed over perfectly fine skin. Nothing...Not even scarred skin…”I’m fine...actually perfect…”

I put my hands in front of my face, staring at the blood on them, which should have been from my torso. As I watched, I noticed all of my little injuries, like the bruises that had just bloomed on my arms from the creek stones, fade before my eyes. Soon, I hadn’t a scratch, bruise, or blemish in sight on my skin.

Chiron looks at me bewildered only to become shocked as he looks just above my head. As I slowly turned, still looking myself over in shock, I raise my head to look at all the other campers. They too, just like Chiron, stared at me. Their eyes were all focused above my head. Confused, I too looked up. A green iridescent trident beams above my head, filling up the forest in a soft teal glow. 

“Poesidon,” he whispered softly.

“Huh?” 

Chiron continues without acknowledging me,“Hail Perseus Jackson, son of Poesidon.” 

_ Well shit… _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hoped you liked this chapter! I kinda lost track of time with this 5k chapter...pulled an all nighter (whoops). Now when your reading this, I'm hopefully in bed all comfy cosy. Zzz...


	4. I Get a Spooky Warning

After I got claimed, the weird trident thing went away (thank god. Or is it gods?) and Chiron told everyone to go get changed and ready for dinner. 

  
I walked with Luke down to the Hermes cabin to gather my stuff. Luke was filling me in on how I no longer got to sleep there. Instead, I got an entire cabin to myself. Apparently, I don’t get any siblings.  _ Well, not like that’s new. _

“Wow, things really move a mile a minute here, ya know? I’m moving my stuff to my new cabin, and I haven’t even had time to get stuff in the first place. I have, like, a shirt and that’s all. And my sword. Also, can I call my mom? I know Gabe doesn’t give a flying crap about where I am, but I think my mother might be concerned.”

Luke looked at me, silent for a moment. Then, “Ummmm….Yeah. Sorry about kidnapping you. But don’t worry! Chiron already paid your mom a visit and filled her in. He even asked if she knew that your dad was a god. My mom did. However, I don’t think yours knew. I can’t believe you’re a son of Poseidon. That means he also fell off the wagon. Crazy.”

“Um, what?”

“Poseidon is one of the big three. The three brothers who are more powerful than any other god. A while back his kids and Zues’s got in a big fight and caused a world war. So they were all ‘let’s not have any more kids.’ Obviously, it didn't work out, cuz you’re here.”

“Wait, a world war?!”

Luke nodded, “yeah. I don’t think you get it. Because of your parentage, you are one of the most powerful demigods alive. Maybe the most powerful. Which is really inconvenient, giving the circumstances. You’re going to have to talk to Chiron. After all, you might be the one. I once thought it was my friend Thalia, but she’s no longer in the picture.”

“Thalia?”

“Yeah. She was a child of Zeus. She died so I could make it to camp with Annabeth and Grover. The two of them are still rather torn up about that, understandably. But especially Annabeth. I think it’s maybe because she was so young at the time.”

We made it to the cabin. I went inside, tripping over the door jam as I went. Naturally, I fall flat on my face, getting a few giggles from the other campers. I picked myself up, and went go to get my stuff, knowing that Luke was waiting right outside for me.

One of the kids who laughed, Ethan, approaches me. “So you’re Poseidon’s kid? Bet you feel  _ real _ great about that huh? Better than all of us? People like us who don’t get a cabin and are forced to cram in with the Hermes kids? I hope you enjoy your cabin, having it all to yourself. Enjoy it while you can. From what I hear, you won’t live very long.”

I looked up at the kid, who stared down at me disdainfully. I felt guilty. _I didn’t ask for this! And what was that about dying?_ _Maybe he meant Clarisse would get me. Meh, whatever._ _She told me as much herself_. I stood up, grabbed the large gallon-sized Ziploc bag that held my meager worldly possessions, and turned to leave. However, the kid who’d just spoken to me stepped in front of me, blocking my path to the door.

I raised a brow, wondering what was up. “Um bye? I’ll miss you too?” I tried, hopefully. He looked unimpressed.  _ What more does he want from me? A goodbye kiss? _

“Have fun, chosen one. They’ll probably send you on a death quest, where your dear father and uncle and play with you lie a toy. But hey, at least your father had the decency to acknowledge that you exist, even if it does spell your doom.” The kid finished his spiel, and then shoved roughly past me, allowing me to finally leave.

Okay, so I don’t know about you, but at this point, I was really fucking confused. I didn’t know what that kid was talking about or what his deal was, and yet he’d taken the time to single me out.  _ Thanks, dude. _

I went back outside towards Luke and continued walking along the curve of cabins, heading towards the one that was built of sea stone and coral. As we walked, I noticed a fair amount of campers pausing to stare at me, or turning to speak to their buddies in hushed tones. I got the distinct feeling that they were talking about me. I hoped, though doubted, they weren’t saying anything bad. 

Luke didn’t seem to mind hanging out with me, so why was everyone else treating me as though I were something vile? Sure, I wasn’t exactly the end all be all greatest person ever, but now it was as though I was everyone’s personal vendetta.  _ Really helping my non-existent self-esteem here guys. _

Every time I tried to meet a camper's gaze, they lowered their eyes, cutting off their stare, almost as though they were afraid of me. I even saw a couple of nymphs flew back to their trees when I looked at them.

I asked Luke about it. “Hey, Luke. How come you're the only one who’s still treating me like a normal human?”

Luke sighed, “I honestly was kind of hoping you wouldn’t have noticed that. But you’ve been claimed. By one of the most powerful Gods. That in itself is enough to spark jealousy. Some kids don’t ever get claimed in their  _ entire lifetime _ . They end up dreaming that maybe their parent is someone special, that maybe they still care about them. Naturally, they end up being disappointed often, either because their parents don’t care, or because they’re minor gods and goddesses. A lot of the kids in the Hermès cabin know what that’s like. Like Ethan Nakamura. He wasn’t claimed for years still he first got here, and then his mother just turned out to be that goddess of revenge. Nothing big or special. He still trains every day though, hoping that he’ll someday be able to join a quest and earn his glory that way. Otherwise, he’ll never earn a name for himself and forever be a nobody stuck in the Hermès cabin. I work with him a lot in sword training. I can’t tell if he envies me for already having a quest, or if he pities me for failing.”

I looked at him, wide-eyed. He was talking about sword fighting and quests as though it were nothing, just a casual afterthought. “You’ve been on a quest?!”

Luke looked at me for a second, then answered, “yeah, but it was nothing special. Just some made-up, already done task my father sent me on. To go and get a golden apple. My quest mates were all killed by a dragon. I was left with the aftermath and a scar I received from the bastard.” 

Luke pauses, looking thoughtful. He ran a hand across what I assume is said scar that marred one side of his face, obviously remembering the day he got it.

“I returned home empty-handed, with shame. Naturally, the quest made me rather depressed. I had failed as a demigod. Once again, I couldn’t protect my team. People sided, just like when I first got to camp. I remember that Annabeth had been so eager to go with me, but I turned her down. She was so upset to see me go, but I’m convinced that it’s the best decision I ever made. Didn’t want her to get hurt, she was too young and innocent and wrongly believed that I could do no wrong. When I came back, that should have changed her perception of me, she should have seen me as a failure, but instead, she just saw how hurt I was. As much as I appreciate her caring about me, and how fiery and uncrushable her spirit is, I wish she’d just see me for what I am. Instead, she thinks I’m some sort of misunderstood hero,” Luke pauses, snorting, “ And now she hates the Gods for sending me on a stupid quest. She wants to go on a quest, to show the gods what she’s worth, what I’m worth. Good intentions, but I think they make her reckless.”

_ Wow. Luke had been through shit. _ Suddenly, I felt as though my entire life was so small and uneventful, the monsters I faced minuscule and unimportant. I wondered about Annabeth. I should probably get to know her better. She seemed like an interesting person. Plus, she was friends with Luke. I liked Luke, and his judgment was probably pretty good. 

Luke was still talking.  _ Whoops _ . I had definitely been spacing out and not listening to him. You know, ADHD and whatnot. 

“So like I was saying, people aren’t really gonna be so eager to cuddle up to you, seeing as you’ve been claimed, almost instantly, by a very powerful God. Not only are they jealous, but a fair few are probably afraid. You're meant to be way more powerful than your average demigod. Like, get angry and accidentally destroy a country or start a war kind of powerful. And even if you don’t wield your power against them on purpose, they still don’t want to risk angering your father. Or even worse, being friends with you and angering Hades and Zeus.”

“Um, why would that make Hades and Zeus angry?”

“Because the brothers are always fighting with each other. It’s a power struggle. They all hate each other’s guts. Not to mention, they all swore they wouldn’t have kids because of some prophecy. The fact that you exist makes Hades and Zeus very angry as is, seeing as it means your dad broke their promise.”

“Wait, prophecy? What’s that got to do with them having kids? And why is Zeus angry? Didn’t he already have Thalia?”

“Yeah. It’s all pretty dumb. You can ask Chiron about the prophecy, I can’t really tell you anything about it. And your dad and Hades were angry about Thalia. That’s why she died. Hades sent hellhounds after us.”

“Hellhounds? Like the one in camp?! You mean Hades is trying to kill me too?”

“Yeah. That hell hound was probably his doing, although, he still shouldn’t have been able to get it past camp borders. Monsters have to be invited in by someone on the inside. Regardless, yes. Hades definitely wants you dead and has definitely known about you even before your dad claimed you. That teacher you killed? That was a fury. A monster of the underworld. Probably also sent by Hades, or at least found you and then reported you to Hades. Either way, he knew you existed and tried to dispose of you.”

I was shocked. I thought the monsters I had killed had all been there by coincidence. Turns out, my dad's side of the family has crazy family issues.  _ That I didn’t ask for. _

“Not to mention that everyone’s wary of Zeus’s temper right now. He just had his lightning stollen. But never mind that, Chiron will fill you in on that later if you get a quest.”

_ What? That was confusing. Either way, that brought up something else important. _

“Everyone keeps saying I’m going to get a quest. What do they mean? I  _ just _ got here! I know nothing about this world! I barely have had time to train. You’ve given me like, a couple sword lessons and that’s it. Why on earth would _ I _ get a quest?”

“That’s not for me to explain. Besides, you might not get one. It’s up to the oracle. You’ll probably meet her later. But that’s another reason people won’t like you now. If you get a quest, people will  _ hate _ you for it.  _ Especially _ people like Clarissa, who have been training and trying to get their own quest for years”

_ Oh great. So the one person who was already out for my blood would now be keener to kill me. _ And this time, no one would want to help me, either because they don't like me either, or because they're afraid of being struck dead by godly powers. I swallowed, hard, suddenly very afraid of what my near future held in store for me.

Luke saw my look of terror, and laughed, “Hey, chin up! It’s not so bad. You’ve still got me on your side!” He said, and waggled his eyebrows at me, making me laugh.

With that, the conversation ended. I had like a million more questions now, but whatever. Let’s just all let Percy suffer in ignorance. 

We had arrived at my cabin. Luke stopped at the door, holding it open for me, but didn’t walk in himself. I stepped through and looked back at him. He lingered in the doorway.

“What? Don’t you wanna come in?”

Luke just shook his head, “I can’t. Your dad would probably smite me or something. Or drown me the next time I get within five feet of water.”

I snorted, “Yeah right. I was able to go into your cabin,” I pointed out.

“That’s different,” he countered. “my dad’s the God of travelers, and since you were in claimed you just took shelter with us, as a traveler between destinations and without a home.”

I nodded. That made sense. I threw my bag on one of the beds. There. All moved in. I was about to leave again and head to dinner with Luke, but Luke stayed firmly planted in the doorway, once again making me a captive of a cabin. What was up with that today? At least this time there weren’t any angry campers surrounding me.

Luke raised a brow at me as I tried to get past him. He didn’t move. I stepped back, kind of annoyed. He looked me up and down. 

I could literally feel his eyes taking up and down my body, and I blushed. “What?” I snapped, self-conscious. Although I don’t know why, it was just Luke, and I was wearing the same clothes I had been all day.

“Remember when Chiron said to go get ready for dinner?” He asked me, taking me off guard.

“Um yeah?” Where was this going? I know I’m not exactly smart, but I still wasn’t catching his drift. 

“Remember the part about getting changed?”

_ Oh, yeah. _ I was wearing the same clothes I had been all day. Which meant that they were torn to shreds and full of blood. Not the kind of thing you wear to dinner.

My face burned red with embarrassment as I looked down at myself, taking in the ragged appearance of my clothes. 

“Yeah.” I said, sheepish, “I should probably fix that. Luke nodded, smirking at my dumb answer. He turned to go, saying he’d see me at dinner. He went back to his cabin to change.

____________________________

At dinner when I entered the pavilion, I nearly lost my life. At first, there was just a distant  _ clop clop clop  _ I rapid succession. Then, I registered that it was coming closer to me very quickly.

I turned and was greeted with the view of my best friend Grover, in a camp shirt, running his furry bottom towards me at full speed, like enchilada level speed. I yelped as he tackled me in a hug, knocking the breath out of me.

“Percy!!! I heard the news! I knew you were a child of the big three I knew it! I’m so glad I didn’t manage to get you killed before you got the camp.”

I patted his back, trying to console my friend in order to encourage him to let me out of his rib-crushing embrace. “Thanks, bud. I’m also glad I didn’t die.”

Grover pulled away from me, releasing me from the hug (finally) and looked at me with tear-filled eyes, as though that was the most heartfelt thing anyone had ever said to him. 

“Do you mean that, Percy? I’m so glad! I finally succeeded in bringing back a half-blood!”

Knowing how much his finders license meant to him, I nodded vigorously, “Um, yeah. Of course. You were really great at protecting me.”

Grover practically fainted at that. He looked so proud of himself for having finally completed his task, it was almost funny. He opened his mouth like he was going to say more, but stopped when Dionysus called his name out sharply. 

He ducked his head, “Look, Perce, I got to go. But congrats, really.”

I looked up at the table where the obnoxious God sat. “What’s he being all snippy about?” I asked, annoyed with the guy for being so rude to Grover. The kid looked terrified when his name had been called.

Grover’s eyes practically popped out of his head when I said that.

He looked over his shoulder before harshly whispering to me, “ _ Percy.  _ You cannot just say that. I know you’re new to all this, but you do understand that he’s a God, right? He can and will smite your ass for dissing him! Not to mention I’m already in trouble with him!”

Oh. So maybe he hadn’t been so successful with his searcher’s license then. “You mean,” I said, getting angrier, “That that  _ asshole _ , after you worked your ass off to get me here safely, isn’t giving you your license?”

I glared at the man over Grover’s shoulder. Grover visibly flinched at my words, and Isaw Dionysus turns towards me, pausing in his conversation with Chiron to narrow his eyes at me.

“Percy! Shhhh! Do you want to die?! And he has every right to think I was reckless! Besides, he hasn’t given me my license yet, he’s just holding out while he thinks about whether or not I’m worthy of it.  _ Please  _ don’t ruin my chances!”

Grover grabbed my shirt front and shook me dramatically, bring my attention away from the god. I looked at my friend, paused for a moment, and then nodded. I gritted my teeth. That didn’t mean I wasn’t furious with the short ugly man, I just didn’t want Grover to crap himself out of fear on my behalf.

“ _ Grover.” _

Dionysus spoke again, in a seemingly normal tone. However, it carried all the way over to them and sounded clear as day, as though the man were right next to them, and not across the pavilion. Grover jumped, practically clear out of his skin, before giving me a short hug and a hurried nervous goodbye. Then, he turned and trotted his way back over to Dionysus, head bowed in fear.

Anger courses through me. I don’t know why, but something about this short man dressed in obnoxiously clashing clothing, really rubbed me the wrong way. He made my blood boil. Just being in the same room as him, made me want to scream.

I looked up at him again. He was watching me, brow lifted and mouthed twisted into a sublime smile of amusement. A flicker of light in his eye caught my attention, drawing me in.

Suddenly, I found myself in an impromptu staring contest with the most powerful being in the camp. Purple fire seemed to dance in his eyes, calling me. As I stare into them, I feel my anger deepen. Out of nowhere, someone calls my name, breaking my gaze, and making me turn toward the sound.

Instantly, my anger disappeared. I glanced back at Dionysus, but he was once again engaged in a conversation with Chiron, smiling and drinking his Coca Cola as though our brief exchange hadn’t happened and for a moment I thought maybe it hadn’t. Then, the God turned towards me and winked, before turning away again.

I stood dumbfounded. What had just  _ happened? _ Had the god made me feel that way? Was it meant to be some sort of warning? A power display? And what the hell had the wink meant?

_ What the FUCK? _

“Percy!” My name was said again. I looked over and saw Luke waving. He sat at the Hermes table surrounded and squished in with his cabin’s campers, all of them smiling at something the Stoll brothers were saying.

I waved back, smiling. I made my way over to the table, the place where I was used to sitting by now, and made to sit down by Luke. However, Luke shook his head. He pointed to an empty table on the other side of the pavilion. I looked over there. Oh. Right. New parent, new cabin, new table. Apparently social isolation. Jesus, I already have a hard time making friends as is, and now I’m literally being forced to eat alone. Who in the hell thought up this system?!

Resigned to my fate of forever eating alone, I walked over to my table that I got to have all to myself.  _ Joy. _

As I sat at my table, I looked around at everyone else, catching some of the Aphrodite kids gossiping at me. Once they saw me notice them, they quickly and not very convincingly looked away. I sighed. I had just been settling in here, and now all of that was going to be ruined. It would take forever for me to make friends now, or at least have people who were willing to behave as though I were just an average human. Even though, technically, none of them here were average, what with the God genes and all.

My eyes scanned over the other campers before coming to rest on the Ares table. I nearly crapped myself in fear just then. Every single Ares kid was staring at me-no, scratch that-  _ glaring _ at me, and not making any attempt to hide it.

The biggest girl at the table caught my eye. Clarisse, in all her angry and very intimidating glory, glared at me, steam practically whistling from her ears and foam dripping from her mouth.

As I watched, she slowly drew a finger across her throat, making eye contact the whole time. I gulped. On second thought, maybe whoever designed the seating-by-godly-parent plan was actually a genius. I wasn’t so sure I wanted to eat dinner with people who wanted to kill me.

I looked down at my plate determined not to look at anyone else. I didn’t want to see anyone talking about me or receive any more threats to my well being.

I ate in silence, feeling absolutely isolated from everyone, just me and my plate of food. And a glass of blue Coca-Cola. At least that novelty hadn’t been spoiled because of my Dad deciding that he should exist in the least present or meaningful way possible.

I found my self wishing Luke was with me. Or that Grover was. Unfortunately, both had other seating arrangements. I for one didn’t envy Grover, who was forced to stand by Dionysus while he ate. Can’t the kid even sit? Grover should file Satyr cruelty charges. Although, I’m not sure that would work, seeing as Dionysus was the head of the council and would have heard that complaint. 

I put the thought out of my mind and tried to think of anything that didn’t suck.

Naturally, that didn’t work, because most of my life sucks. And the parts that don’t, like my mom, make me sad, because I can’t see her now, and I haven’t seen her all year. It’s a little bit shit. Very not stellar.

As I wallowed in my misery, someone had the audacity to sit down and interrupt my thoughts. 

I looked up, surprised. I thought campers couldn’t intermingle tables?

But all the same, there sat a person I really hadn’t expected at all. Annabeth Chase. Damn. A girl had decided to sit by him? Weird. That had never happened before. _ Didn’t her mom have a rivalry with my dad? Does that mean she hates me too? God, time to extend the people-who-hate-Percy list. _

She leaned across the table, blonde hair framing her face. I really liked her hair. Always thought blondes were cool. My hair was totally lame, just black. With blonde, you get all different shades and patterns of colors. Hell, you could easily dye it too. Black hair was just monotonous.

She was speaking.  _ Shit. I wasn’t listening. _ I probably had a really dumb look on my face. My jaw was definitely hanging slack, at any rate. What? She wasn’t even supposed to be at my table. How was I supposed to react to her just randomly sitting down halfway through dinner?

“What?” I asked. I totally had missed everything she just said.

She looked unimpressed. “Ugh. Pay attention. Seaweed Brain.”

I scowled at the nickname. She ignored my expression and kept talking.

“Look, I’m breaking the rules by sitting with you, and I’m especially breaking the rules by telling you what I’m about to. You have to get the quest. And when you do, you can choose companions. Pick Luke. He’ll get you through anything. Whatever you do, though for your other companion, consider your options carefully.”

“I can choose my companions?”

“Yes. Keep up. You can only travel with two companions because that’s a sacred number. Anything else would be unlucky and probably get you killed. But more importantly, you have to choose the right people.”

“What do you mean? Like people with good skills?”

“Well, yes, that’s part of it. But that’s not what I’m getting at. People you can trust, I mean. I know you’re new, and you don’t quite understand what’s going on, but there’s discord brewing in camp and on Olympus.”

“Yeah I know, Like said Zeus was angry with my Dad about lightning or something.”

Annabeth rolled her eyes, “Yes, or something. The Master Bolt is Zeus’s power symbol. He’s angry because it’s been stolen. He blames your Dad for it. But that’s not what’s important. What matters is who really stole it, because it wasn’t you. You’re too stupid to have done that, so Zeus accusing your dad of having used you to steal his weapon is ridiculous.”

“Hey!” I objected, “I’m not  _ that _ stupid.”

Annabeth gave me a look, shutting me up. “What this means is that there’s someone who has the ability to steal the most powerful god’s weapon. This is a huge upset on Olympus. They think one of the gods is a traitor. But Percy, that’s not why you need to be careful of your companion. Whether it’s the same person or not, there’s also someone in this camp who's against us. A traitor in our midst.”

“Traitor?! What makes you say that?”

“Isn’t it obvious? Percy, someone let in a hellhound. That means someone in this camp, contacted Hades and gave him an in, purely to kill you and cause further discord on Olympus. That, someone,  _ had _ to have known who your dad was, even before you were claimed. Someone who’s capable of messing with events from behind the scenes to provoke the gods into a war among themselves. Percy, if you trust the wrong person, you may give a quest to the very person who has stolen from the gods, has tried to have you killed, and maybe the only person with the means to topple Olympus. If you give them this opportunity, they will use it to stab you in the back and make their move against the gods. The fall out would be spectacular.”

She reached across the table and grabbed my hand, looking deep into my eyes. “Percy, consider this information carefully. Watch your back, and decide who your friends and foes are quick. And remember, your greatest enemy will most likely try to befriend you, make you trust them most. They are who you should distrust most. Anyone could be the thief.”

With that, she let go of my hand and disappeared, taking a seat back with the other Athena kids.

I stared at the hand she had just let go of. Her words swirled in my head. I couldn’t trust whom I trusted most? Who was that? I barely knew anyone here. My eyes drifted to Luke. No, I could trust him, right? Annabeth said I could. But isn’t it true that if he were the thief, he could make Annabeth trust him too? And wouldn’t he have the greatest motive to topple Olympus? After all, they had taken his entire life from him. Ruined his childhood and killed his friends. 

My gaze drifted to Grover. I had been best friends with him for a long time now. He’d been my only friend, actually. But could so really trust him? After all, he had kept his true identity a secret from me for as long as I had known him, his the fact that he was an entirely different species. Grover had been the one to lie to him, to his face, about all the irregularities in his life, about the insane events that had occurred throughout the school year. How could I trust someone who hides so much? I feel like I know him the most, but in reality, I don’t know him any more than anyone else I had just met at this camp.

But what choice did I have? I couldn’t exactly choose Clarisse. She’d kill me and then continue the quest while dragging around my rotting corpse to maintain the sacred number of three campers.  _ Didn’t say they had to be alive. _

Oh well. Nothing I could do about it now. I looked down at my plate and began to mechanically eat what I had left, appetite gone but needing a distraction from the boatload of thoughts that had just been dumped on my head. 

Annabeth seemed so sure that I would get a quest. How could she know that? But she seemed to know so much about everything else. Maybe it came with the territory of being a child of Athena. Ability to know insider information.

I shoved the thoughts out of my head. No matter how sure Annabeth has seemed, the fact remained that I had not yet gotten the quest. Thinking about it would only drive me crazy.

I continued to drive myself crazy for the rest of dinner.

————————————————

That night at the campfire sing-along I didn’t sing. Luke sat with me, and sent me a couple of worried glances, sensing something was wrong. Mercifully, he chose not to comment. 

I went to bed that night and dreamt fitfully.


	5. My Dad's Ex Tries to Seduce Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Oracle, quest, Furies, and Medusa oh my! (Still haven't improved at summaries...)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New chappy! I love all of the comments you guys, gals, other, and non-binary pals are posting. I've read every one, I appreciate it immensely. I wrote an extra-long chapter for the big wait gap that was the last chapter. This bitch took me like three days, so I hope you like it. This is definitely is my favorite chapter I wrote. Personally I laughed a lot while making this so I hope you will too! There are some links (two I think). Not sure if they'll work, but I hope they do! Constructive criticism is always welcomed and appreciated so don't feel rude or mean if you have something to say. I should stop here since I'm starting to rant. Oops... :)

For the rest of the night, I was plagued with nightmares of eagles, horses, oceans, and thunder. I don’t want to bore you with the details but in short, I got horrible sleep ‘cause of kamikazing animals fighting in a storm. And let’s just say I didn’t get out completely unscathed. I could already feel my eyes droop tempting me back into unconsciousness. Jerking awake and bolting upright, I shook my head trying to sweep away the drowsiness already clouding in my head like cotton. Yawning, I untangled myself, knowing if I went back to sleep the dreams would return. I sigh and look at the clock beside my bedside. 

I frown and let out a long-suffering sigh. The clock blinked an analog screen of 4:38 am. _Great, just what I needed. No sleep and waking up just shy of 3 hours before breakfast. Just my fucking luck._ I whine stepping out of bed and towards the bathroom. _The one up-side of being forever alone in a cabin is that I have a bathroom to myself. I let me tell you, I like my bathroom like I like my coffins, devoid of anyone else. Thankfully, I have plenty of time to enjoy the feeling of stewing in my own filth. It’s bath time, bitch._

I spend the next few minutes that the bath shower combo takes to fill ransacking the cabinets for anything of interest. My brows scrunch in disappointment not finding literally anything. _Thank gods Luke had the kindness to steal me some toiletries earlier this week._ I sprint out of the bathroom to grab the grocery bag with said items inside that were lying to the right side of my bed on the floor. 

I near the tub peeking if it seems to be full. _Three fourths...Good enough._ Stepping out of my clothes, I slosh into the tub lounging against the marbled sea-green wall. I reach out my foot to stop the faucet, too lazy to slink over and turn it off with my hands. I let out a content hum and sink deeper into the steaming water. My eyes droop and my breath evens out as I finally slip into an undisturbed slumber.

————————————————

Luke stared at the empty Poseidon table. It was unlike Percy to arrive late for breakfast. Like most people who stayed in the Hermes cabin, Percy was _not_ a morning person, but that never stopped him from waking up five minutes before 8, changing his clothes in less than thirty seconds, and rushing out the door, perfectly on time. 

There were unsubtle whispers that filled the hall all concerning where the son of the sea god was. Luke wore his bottom lip between his teeth worried about what could have happened to Percy. _Did Zeus finally take vengeance? Or did Hades?_ Thoughts pooled in the son of Hermes’s mind before being interrupted by two especially mischievous brothers.

“What doeth be thy problem my good half-brother?” Connor piped up catching the attention of Luke.

Luke raised an eyebrow at Connor’s more than likely incorrect old English.

Travis let out a curious hum, “tis mighteth beeth thy dear half-brother’s boooyfriend~.” Both Travis and Connor give Luke shit-eating grins and blinking their eyes in fake innocence.

Luke gives them a questioning look, “first of all, why the hell are you guys speaking shitty old English, and second, Percy is _not_ my _boooyfriend~_. I’ve only known him for like...two weeks.”

The blood brothers smirk. In unison, the brothers respond, “Nay reasoneth but to annoy our fellow campers. Thou shouldst rescueth thy damsel in distress!”

Luke snorts, “like I need to save the troublemaker. The dude’s catching up to me in sword fighting so fast it will only be a few weeks before he’s an equal opponent.”

The boys across from him raise their eyebrows suggestively. 

Luke stares at the pair before rolling his eyes and sitting up from the table, “I’ll go check on him. The guy gets into more trouble than you two look for on a daily basis.”

Sneaking out of the Great Hall, careful of keeping out of Chiron’s line of sight, Luke headed towards Percy’s cabin. Jogging slightly, he got there in a matter of minutes. He knocked on the door awaiting a response. He tapped his foot, impatience, and ADHD kicking in. He knocks again and calls out Percy’s name. No response. He lets out a soft groan and tries the door handle testing if it was unlocked, and even if it was Luke wouldn’t have had a problem getting it to open.

Opening the door slowly, Luke cautiously sneaks in. _This all seems a bit_ too _familiar._ He spots a messy bed with one occupying it. He stands up straight before calling out Percy’s name once again. No response. Getting worried Luke checks each bed and around the fountain as well trying to cover all of his bases on where Percy could be.

The sound of a door clicking alerts Luke as he turns around catching the person behind him off guard. 

————————————————

I jerk awake hearing my name. I yawn assuming that the call of my name was from a lingering dream. _It’s not like anyone can come into my cabin anyway and I probably wouldn’t be able to hear someone yelling my name from outside._ I stretch letting out another appealing yawn, my spine cracking in the process. I rub away the sleep in my eyes and turn to head out the door. I forgo the use of a towel, _it’s not like water’s gonna damage the Poseidon cabin. Plus, apparently, water just dries when I want it to. The added bonus of being the son of the sea god I guess._

I turn the door handle while letting out another yawn, clenching my eyes shut. Mid-yawn I open my eyes to the man himself, Luke Castellan. We both freeze, making awkward eye-contact with each other. Our impromptu staring contest ended when he’s eyes flick downwards. 

Snapping back to my senses, I yelp curling into myself trying to cover as much skin as possible. Luke snaps his head to the side shielding his eyes with his hand. “ _WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE!? I thought people weren’t allowed to go into other people’s cabins! ”_

Luke stutters out a response, “Uh-you were really late to breakfast so...I thought I’d check up on you? You didn’t answer the door so I just..came in?”

I mutter out a soft, “I knew I should have locked that door,” before heading towards my dresser to get dressed in as little time as possible. 

“I would have been able to get through anyway..” Luke pipes up rubbing the back of his neck, eyes making eye-contact with the ceiling. _Apparently, he had heard me talking to myself...great._

Once fully clothed I glance at my alarm clock sitting at the right of my bed. My eyes widen. _8:30?!_ _I went into the bathroom at like ten to five!_

“So...wanna explain why you came out of the shower 30 minutes into breakfast?”

I sigh, “I’ve been having these weird-ass dreams about horse and eagles and shit. I didn’t get a lick of sleep until around 5 when I went to take an early morning bath. Said bath lasting me over three hours…”

“You said dreams right?”

I give him a weird look, “ that’s what you took out of that? Me having dreams?”

“Chiron will explain it better...Let’s just say things are gonna get A LOT harder from here on out…”

————————————————

As I explain my dreams to Chiron, he lets out a sad sigh. His eyes are lowered to the ground like he’s disappointed, “I knew this would happen…”

I give him a look and without verbally saying anything I hint at wanting to know what he means.

“A quest...You have to go on a quest to get Zeus’s Bolt back.”

“Aren’t quests super dangerous? And why do I have to get Zeus’s bolt back? I didn’t steal it!”

“Well, he thinks you have so whether you did or not, you have to return it to him.”

I sigh discontentedly. _I should have expected this, especially after Annabeth’s advice_. 

“I don’t even know where to start! How the hell am I supposed to find a superweapon without any clues?”

“You’ll have to see the oracle,” Luke pipes up.

“Oracle?”

“The Oracle of Delphi, speaker of prophecies and shit.”

“Oh, do I have to go find that too?” I ask, exasperated.

“Nah, it’s in the attic of the Big House. I’ll lead ya to it.” Luke begins to walk away, I follow his lead coming right beside him.

A silence settles between us and unlike our usual comfortable silence, it’s awkward as hell. _I’m never leaving my bathroom naked_ ever _again. Of all times Luke could come in my cabin he chose the exact time I decided to let it all out. Godsdammit._

“So uh- this morning...” Luke starts.

I quickly respond not wanting to extend this conversation any longer, “You’re fine.”

Luke lets out a sigh of relief, “thank god. Didn’t want to ruin our already on thin ice friendship…”

“Thin ice?” 

“Dude, our first meeting was me punching the shit out of what I assume is your step-dad.”

“Wait, what?!” I give him a look of shock.

“You don’t remember? You did pass out like right after so...that might explain it.”

“Well, even if I can’t remember it., I’ll take your word. The bastard deserves it anyway. ” He sends me a concerned look. I give him a small shrug and a wave of my hand. 

‘I won’t press you for it but I’m here if you wanna talk. There’s a reason why I met Thalia and Annabeth on the road.” 

I send him a smile and lightly bump his shoulder with mine, “thanks…”

A few minutes pass in finally comfortable silence as we finally reach the Big House.

“I’d go in with you but you kind of gotta visit the Oracle on your own…” Luke says stepping to the side of the Big House door, now leaning against the panelling of the baby blue house. “Uh...good luck?”

I send him duel thumbs up and an nervously awkward smile before I make a beeline towards the attic. Fast-walking like a soccer mom with her coupon book on her weekly shopping trip, I reach it in seconds. I make my way up the stairs and into the musty upper floor. Old wooden shelves line the walls. They’re filled with jars of unknown items and liquids. _I_ don’t _wanna ask what’s in those._

On the shelf sits a pair of fuzzy dice like you’d see in movie cliche-like purple low-rider. Part of me is curious where the hell those came from since the bright pink of the dice stick out like a sore thumb against the other mossy tones of brown, grey, and green that fill the room. Sat on a chest next to the shelf is the head of what I believe is a hydra. It has four necks that thrash like they’re still alive, though only three of the original four heads still remain. I pass the two objects and turn my head to gaze in front of me.

On a large dust-covered armchair sat the decrepit corpse of a woman unfamiliar to him. The decaying figure’s body was sprawled against the back of the chair, its head hung low like its neck was broken. Withering skin was stretched over bare bones. Its hair was draped over its face hiding it from view. Its dress was tattered and hung limply from its greying body. 

I stood mere feet from it trying and failing to stop looking at it. _Luke and Chiron didn’t tell me what to do past this point! What? Am I supposed to talk to it or something? Ask for a clue?_

“Uh… hello? I- uh need help with a quest? Like to get back ol’ Zeus-ie’s bolt?” I tentatively ask. No response. “What? Do you want me to ask more formally? Like, how do I find Zeus’s Master Bolt?!” I snap.

Suddenly, the body jerks up, its head now resting against its right shoulder. Glowing cyan eyes make contact with mine, causing me to jump a bit. I stare, my gaze unbreaking as mist sops out of its mouth in plumps of green swirls. 

I blink briefly, the scene in front of me changing drastically. I stood to the side of my bastard step-father’s self-proclaimed poker table. Gabe was sitting, not facing me unlike the others whose eyes and bodies were turned towards me. 

Eddie, I believe his name was, speaks, his eyes a milky white “You shall go west, and face the god who has turned.”

Another one of Gabe’s friends talk, their eyes also milky white “You shall find what was stolen, and see it safely returned.”

The last of Gabe’s friends utter another line, “You shall be betrayed by a giver of advice.”

At last, and that’s not in enjoyment, Gabe turns to me, his eyes the same cyan blue as the Oracle’s. He finishes the prophecy with a, “And you shall fail to save what matters most, in the end.”

I snap out of the vision (or should I say hallucination) with a blink of my eyes and the shake of my head. I rub my eyes and look at the Oracle. There it sat, exactly like it was when I first saw it, limp against the chair. I sigh, worried of what this prophecy could mean.

————————————————

After grabbing Luke who was still lounging away on the porch, I head over to Chiron to tell him the prophecy to get some advice. _Uh oh...Um...clues? God, if Chiron is the one to betray me I’m literally going to have to evaluate my whole 8th grade career._

“Uh...Where are you taking me?”

“To Chiron, dumbass.”

“Why?”

“To help with the prophecy, duh.”

“But why are you taking me?”

“Cause you need three people on a quest?”

“And?”

I stop my running and send him a questioning look, “Okay, how are you not catching on?”

“Uh…”

“You’re going on the quest with me. ”

“Um...but why? I’ve told you of my last quest, so why do you want _me_ to come with you?”

“‘Cause you’re my friend? I don’t have a lot of those here and I’d rather kill myself if I have to go on a quest with Clarisse, who, by the way, is like one of the only camper who has almost the same level of expertise as you. I don’t wanna die at 14 ya know.” _Especially at the height that I am, I look 10._

He stares at me looking both shocked and comforted. He lets out a soft laugh-like exhale and grins shaking his head. “Knowing us, we’ll probably get into loads of trouble but if you want me with you? I’ll come.”

————————————————

When we reach the Great Hall it’s already 8:50, breakfast almost over. A couple of groups of campers chatter quietly lingering at their tables. Luke reminds me to sit at my table to see if I can get something to eat and throw into the firepit real quick.

I receive my bowl of cereal and pour some of it in the fire thanking my father and asking if he can somehow help me through my quest. I don’t get a response so I go back to my table to finish my bowl. 

I looked towards Luke who was standing by Chiron, talking quietly. I head over, making unpleasant eye-contact with Dionysus before fully reaching Chiron. 

I tell Chiron the whole prophecy, reciting it word for word. He seems contemplative and mentions that the line of the prophecy can be taken in many ways. _Like that helps my conscience._

While talking to Chiron about the quest, he tells us the theory of Hades being the one who stole the bolt. Both Luke and I agree that even if it’s not the correct assumption it’s our best one. Hopefully, we won’t get banished to eternal damnation if we’re wrong.

————————————————

As Luke and I sit on the pier just shy of the water, he sighs, “So, 10 days to get from camp to the Underworld and back.”

“We’re fuckin’ screwed, but it’s the best chance we got. Are we headin’ out tomorrow then?”

“It’s your call, you’re the leader.”

“Yeah sure. That’s our best bet, leaving as soon as possible.”

Luke gains a curious look and turns to me, “by the way...who else is joining us on our quest to retrieve the bolt?”

“Oh, Grover! Apparently, him passing out while I left and then kidnapping me wasn’t the best way to get his searcher's license. I thought maybe if we completed this quest with his help he’d get it as his last chance or something.”

Luke nods his head, “have you told him yet?”

“Uh..no?”

————————————————

“WHAT!?”

I give Grover I sheepish grin.

“Y-you want _me_ ,” he points at himself sticking out his neck, “to go on a quest with you?” _Why does everyone seem so shocked that I want them with me on a quest?_

“Yeah! We can get that searcher’s license of yours together.”

He starts to tear-up at my comment. I pat his arm in comfort. He then takes that as an initiative to initiate a hug. His arms wrap around me as he wets the collar and shoulder of my shirt with his tears. I awkwardly pat his back and loosely wrap my arm around his torso.

I let out of the hug, “We’re leaving tomorrow so...you might wanna get one that.”

He turns bug-eyed, “T-t-tomorrow! Why didn’t you tell me sooner?!”

“I got the quest this morning! I told you as soon as possible!”

He hobbles away quickly leaving me to stand alone on the beach we met up at. _That went almost exactly as expected, except for the doubt part. I know Grover well enough that I knew he was gonna cry._

I give the direction that Grover a final once-over then make my way over to sword practice with Luke. _It might make me sore the next morning, but if I’m gonna die on this quest I’m gonna go done fighting!_

————————————————

I awake the next morning sore as hell with a few new dark bruises to boot. _It’d be angrier if these weren’t from practice. You’re lucky I was able to give you some as well Luke or I’d be a little less lenient about it._ I huff and look at the time, 7:34. _Plenty of time to get everything packed for the trip._

I hurry through packing, shoving a couple of pairs of clothes into my backpack along with some money my mother and Luke either gave or stole for me. _You can guess which is which._ Digging around my bedside drawer I find the collection of various candy and granola bars that I convinced the Stolls to get me. _I may have had to give them drachmas that I had Luke steal from them but they’re none the wiser._ I grab a handful and pack them into my bag. _A bitch get hungry._

My thoughts and scavenging ways are stopped by a voice just a few feet behind me, “Are we eating breakfast before we leave?”

I whip behind me to see Luke loitering against a bedpost across from me, “probably. I mean it’s better to leave full than on an empty stomach plus you know how much Grover complains when he’s hungry.”

He nods and lets out a sound of agreement.

“Also, how long have you been in here. You know not to come into my cabin, especially if you don’t knock," I pause to look down at his fluttering shoes. “Also, nice shoes, they actually fly?”

“Eh, I’ve already seen you naked. I’m desensitized now. Plus Poseidon didn’t kill me the first time I was in here, so I’m assuming I’m good.”

“May I remind you that that wasn’t a pleasant experience for you _or_ me?” 

“Hell yeah, they fly. I got ‘em from my dad. He’s,” Luke pauses looking conflicted, “trying his best. He keeps trying to make up for stuff he’s done in the past, but it’s- um,” he stops to sigh. “I don’t wanna talk about it right now. You done packing?”

“Yeah I’m done, and I am here if you ever do want to talk about it so...” I trail off.

“Thanks, now let’s head to breakfast then skedaddle off to go get that bolt,” Luke mentions trying to lighten the mood. He lifts himself off the bedpost and begins to walk off.

“Aw yes, the Zappy thing,” I say getting up from my squatting in front of the drawer.

Luke stops, “ _Zappy thing?_ ” 

“The bolt. Ya know,” I make a _zzt_ sound through my teeth before continuing, “electricity.”

Luke shakes his head, slightly amused by my antics.

————————————————

After breakfast, Luke and I went to stand on the huge hill, right next to Thalia’s pine. _I think it’s called Half-Blood Hill or something. I could really care less._ We were headed there to meet up with Grover so we could take a bus to New Jersey. _This sounds like the start of a really bad road-trip movie._

Once we got to the top we had to wait a few minutes for Grover to appear. When he came, he was carrying a knapsack on his back, a pair of reed pipes at his waist, a familiar Yankees cap, and a large multi-colored...pillow?

“Grover...Is that a body pillow?” I asked a bit flabbergasted that he thought to bring this with him.

His eyes avoid mine, flicking in all directions, “Ah...no?” He flings the thing behind him looking nervous as all hell. 

“Grover, you can’t hide the thing. It’s literally the size of _me_.”

Grover lets out a sigh of defeat and brings it in front of him. The picture of a brown-haired woman in a green, white, and pink female sailor uniform is printed on the front. I recognize it immediately. 

“Is that Sailor Jupiter?!” I ask more excitedly than I _probably_ should be.

Luke finally joins in, looking incredibly confused, “who?”

“Sailor Jupiter. She’s part of the Sailor Moon squad. It’s from an anime.”

Luke, at my explanation, gets even more confused. I stare at him for a few seconds trying to think of something to not confuse him more. Nothing came to mind. _Sorry, Luke, the only way to make it make sense is to show you, and I don’t think you wanna be dragged into Grover’s anime-loving ways._

“Anyways, why do you have that with you?”

“She’s like so in touch with nature and she’s _such_ a good comforter. Plus she has electrokinesis which I thought could guide us.”

I nodded giving him an awkward smile. _Grover, this is too far. Bringing her (it) is one thing but thinking she’s (it’s) sentiment is another._

“O-kay, well anyway, let’s go catch a bus and road trip this bitch. We’ve got ten days and many miles ahead, so we’d better hurry.”

————————————————

When we finally caught the bus, the lot of us sat near the back where people sitting were scarce. Luke and I sat directly in front of Grover, our bodies almost constantly sitting in the opposite direction that we were supposed to. 

“Hey, Grover, why do you have Annabeth’s Yankees cap? She cherishes that thing ya know?” Luke asks, turning his head towards Grover while pointing to the baseball hat in his hat.

“Oh! She wanted to give this to you before she left but you weren’t in your cabin so she gave it to me after breakfast. It was why I was a little late…” Grover then hands the hat to Luke smiling sheepishly.

Luke smiles fondly, “I’ll have to thank her when we get back then.”

The three of us joke around and chatter with each other softly. I make the occasional tease about Grover’s ‘seatmate’, Body Pillow Sailor Jupiter, and Luke takes every opportunity to tug both of our legs whether it be embarrassing stories of Grover when they were on the run together or about my small stature. Our gigglefest is ceased when Grover perks up with fear in his eyes. 

“Uh-guys…”

We both look at him in confusion.

“F-f-f-furies!” He yelps, diving into his seat out of our view. 

Simultaneously, Luke and I flip our bodies around to look towards the front of the bus. Three old ladies are at the front slowly making their way towards us. I look at the lady in the front who looks oddly familiar. The bat-like skin and cruel glare. The hit hits me. 

“Ms. Dodds…”

“Who?” Luke’s gaze is now on me.

“My Pre-Algebra teacher. I put a sword through her last year, why is she back?”

Grover rises slightly above his seat, “Alecto.”

“Huh?” My head turns towards him.

“Alecto. She’s one of the furies, remember? Hades sent her and the other furies to kill us, more specifically _you!_ ”

“Uh oh.”

Luke gives me a strangle look, “ _Uh oh?_ More like ‘oh shit’.”

I make a sound similar to a beached whale. 

Luke shoves Annabeth’s hat on my head and pushes me onto the ground and under the seats. With a serious look, he puts a finger to his lips to shut me up. I nod and crawl forward completely invisible. The furies pass me, but not without Alecto stopping to sniff the air. My lungs freeze, unable to breathe I shake hoping she won’t completely notice me. She finally passes getting closer and closer to Luke and Grover.

“Oh! I have to go to the bathroom!” Alecto says so unsubtly it felt like she physically hurt me. 

Suddenly the bus is purged in darkness, the dim lamps installed on the floor are the only source of light just barely giving me access to see where the furies feet are. The wrinkled feet of one of the ladies flee from view as they soar upwards. I panic, scooching my way to the lane to see what she’s planning. 

A witch-like cackle erupts from the hag's lips as she nears the floor right in front of Luke and Grover. In a frenzy, I sprint towards her, sword in hand, and slash downwards slicing her directly in half right before she finishes her landing. Her two companions snarl behind me, their whips are slick with flames after they give them a strong flick. I steal my nerves and sprint towards them but not before tossing Annabeth’s cap off and handing it to Grover. Luke follows closely behind me ready to fight as well. Grover prepares his reed pipes by placing them close to his mouth, ready at any moment.

To my pleasure, the bus reaches the end of the tunnel flooding the mostly dark bus with natural light. I make the first move as I swipe my sword to the side barely grazing one of the furies, who I believe is Megaera, legs as she leaps above me and past Luke. I watch her almost being caught off guard by another fury, Tisiphone I think, slinging the tip of her whip towards me. I slip into a bus seat in avoidance, kicking Luke in the ribs to push him into the seat parallel to mine. The flaming whip cracks against the seat in front of me, sizzling the tacky navy blue pleather. The sound of a [ kinda shitty Britney Spears ‘Toxic’ reed pipe cover ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QuFTCirwmoM) fills the bus, confusing me slightly and terrifying me plenty. Ignoring the pain of my eardrums bleeding, I slide under the seat, back against the floor, and swipe my leg out in front of the Tisiphone in an effort to trip her. To my luck and surprise, she falls, faces making intimate contact with the dirty bus floor. Hastily, I push my hands against the side of the bus and push myself out from under the bus. I slide on top of Tisiphone, weighing her down with my tiny compact body, and make a final arc of my sword, slicing her head. She explodes into golden dust, some of it getting in my mouth. I let out a series of hacks and coughs before Luke exclaims out a warning before transforming his sword into a sledgehammer and slamming into Megaera.

“Percy! Duck!” 

I look up to make eye-contact with an out-of-control flying Megaera. I shriek, quickly falling to the ground as the bat-woman soars through the air crashing into the bus’s front view window. The glass of the window shakes as the bus driver veers off the side of the road flipping the bus over. Passengers scream holding onto whatever they can while Luke and I stare at each other in horror as we both go careening in the bus’s side windows. The ear-piercing sound of a reed pipes cover is cut short as Grover chatters his teeth in fright.

A final thump of the bus reaching a stop echoes. Our group sprints off the bus, not wanting to get blamed for the bus accident. We ran into the forest off the side of the road hoping no one would see us. Ahead of me is Luke still grasping my wrist and pulling us through the forest. Once we reach a clearing, Luke stops to assess our situation.

“Well, that happened,” I said panting.

“Well, at least we still have our bags!” Grover says, holding up Luke and I’s bags. 

“Hell yeah!” I grab it out of his hand. _It feels...lighter._ I take a closer look noticing that my backpack’s unzipped. I peer inside finding nothing but a few candy bars, six drachmas, and less than $50. 

Luke sighs, I figure he has the same dilemma as me, “we left them unzipped so when the bus went flying so did most of our stuff. Great.”

“At least we still have Sailor Jupiter!” Grover mentions holding up the limp pillow.

Luke and I give him an awkward smile and agreement. 

“We could follow that highway?” I say pointing to an empty highway.

Luke looks where I’m pointing and shrugs, “it’s something. Sure, let’s do it.”

And the three of us went. Following a seemingly abandoned highway to who knows where. 

————————————————

“Who’d think since your dad is the god of travelers that'll be easy with you along.”

“True, but how do you think we know that we’re going in the right direction? A lot of children of Hermes have an amazing mental compass and sense of direction. Hell, I could probably tell you are coordinates right now.”

“Woah, seriously?” 

“I mean I can’t get it exact but I can get close.”

I encourage him to do so.

He stops walking along the highway to think. “Hmmm, we’re around 39.51° North, 74.42° West. I can only round to the hundredths.”

“Holy shit! I’m still impressed!”

He shrugs.

————————————————

“Hey guys, look!” Grover says snatching my arm and shaking it.

I follow Grover’s gaze to meet a one-story building with a huge lit-up sign. _I don’t know what the fuck that says but it smells like McDonald’s was the king of the gods and had just blessed my nose to smell the mouth-watering scent of greasy food and the blaring warning of diabetes that most people ignore._

“Aunty Em’s Garden Gnome Emporium,” Grover reads for us.

“Don’t care, I’m going in. My tummy’s a rumblin’” I jog to the building, the scent now coming in waves. 

I burst through the door, my eyes scanning to find where the scent is coming from. 

“Why hel-” She stops when she takes a look at me fully. 

“You’re back?” she asks, getting teary-eyed. The woman was wearing a black veil-like headdress. It covered her face fully from view. All of her skin was covered in black clothing like she was ready for a funeral.

She walked towards me grabbing my face and letting out a soft sob, “you’ve come back to me! Looking just like you were all those years ago! So young and handsome!”

At this point, I was feeling hella awkward. This unknown lady comes up to me and starts acting like I’m her long lost lover or something.

“I could kiss you!” 

“Woah!” I pull her hands off my face and push her away.

“First of all, I have no clue who you are, and second, I’m not ‘back’. I’ve never been here and whoever you’re looking for is _not_ me.” Luke and Grover stand behind me.

She sighs sadly, grabbing my hands and cupping them. “I fell in love with a man whom I wasn’t supposed to. I’ve now been awaiting his return for eons! And well you look just like him the first time I saw him. I apologize for my behavior. Why don’t I be a host to you and your friends.” She leads our groups to a picnic-style table. “You all can have a seat while I go get you some food.” She walks away and into a room to the side.

“So…”

“I _don’t_ wanna talk about it,” I say looking at Luke.

Grover makes an offhand remark about one of the gnomes looking a _bit_ too much like his Uncle Ferdinand. Whatever _that_ means.

Aunty Em returns with a tray full of deep-fried childhood obesity. I thank her curtly before digging in. She moves to sit by me, gently caressing my shoulder and upper arm. Her nails cause the hair on my arm to rise, giving me unwanted goosebumps. She sighs fondly. _And creepily if I might add._ Both Luke and Grover stare at her weirdly, Grover more so.

I give her a sheepish laugh, my voice shaky, “ma’am I am 14.”

“And I’m over a millennia, but who’s counting…” 

Not fully catching what she had said, I eloquently replied, “huh?”

“Nothing! Nothing at all…” she clenches her hand around my arm. “Pictures! Yes, pictures...I use visitor pictures to create my gnomes. Though all my statutes turn out horrifying, maybe you all can change that...”

She leads us once again to somewhere new. Grover becomes jittery and refuses to let go of Luke's left arm. “Right there...Perfect! Right by my other statues! Just smile and look extra happy!”

When she starts to unravel her black veil headdress, Grover makes the connection.

“Guys! That _is_ my Uncle Ferdinand!” He dives out of the way pushing us all to the side. We all let out groans of discomfort as we hit the ground.

“Stay _STILL!_ ”

Our group scatters running for cover. 

“So, Medusa eh?” Luke grins.

‘Not the _time!_ ” I punch his shoulder. “How the _hell_ are we supposed to beat her if we can’t look at her?

“Mirror.” I give him a look.

“Now where the hell are we gonna get a mirror?”

He lifts up his sword and transforms it into a medium-sized hand mirror. 

“That’s oddly convenient.” 

He gives me a smug grin then shrugs, “You’ll have to fight backward but I got your back...or should I say front?”

I roll my eyes before we set out on our plan. I jog backward, looking directly at Medusa through the mirror. She cackles at our attempt.

“You really think you can beat _me_ while backward? You may not have been Posiedon but you sure are as courageous as him!” her lips curve upwards in a smug grin. She barrels at me at full speed, hands outstretched ready to slit my throat. Using my time wisely, I flipped to face her with my eyes closed. I slam the hilt of my blade into her temple sending her careering away. I look towards the mirror again to get her exact position. She growls with a twisted sneer on her face.

Out of nowhere before Medusa can trample towards me, Grover with his eyes closed screams out a loud, “Jupiter Power! Make-Up!” grabbing medusa’s attention and lobs the big white blob that is the Sailor Jupiter Body pillow. It flew through the air like it was wearing Luke’s maia shoes. It toppled, backflipping and 360-ing making me and Luke go wide-eyed as we looked at the scene before us in the hand-mirror. _I can just hear the_ _[Chariots of Fire song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8a-HfNE3EIo) __in my head._ It made its ten out of ten landing, nailing Medusa right in the face, knocking her ass right to the floor. Silence overcame the room, everyone shocked at what just happened.

Seeing my opening, I dead-bolt towards Medusa sword at the ready. With closed eyes, I fling Sailor Jupiter into the air, saving her (it?) from the arc of my sword aimed right at Medusa’s neck. With sickening wet _schlock,_ Medusa’s head rolls away as I disconnect it from her neck with my sword. Acid green ooze spilled out of her neck, her corpse still remaining. I shoved her head to the side and backed away not wanting to touch it anymore.

I exhale, looking at the two behind me. My eyes turn to the body pillow of the floor. “Thanks, Sailor Jupiter.” I pat it gently and toss her to Grover. He is crying.

Luke’s over by Medusa’s head taping it with his foot lightly. ‘So, what do you wanna do with it?”

“Um...Don’t know yet. What I do know is, I’m gonna go raid her kitchen and every other room is this building. The bitch almost killed me so I’m ransackin’ her place.” With that, I stroll over to where Medusa made our food. 

I looked at every cabinet, drawer, shelf, and safe but didn’t find much except for $300 in cash, an address book, and a sack of drachmas. I step out of the room to find Luke who is wrapping Medusa’s head in a type of fast food paper. _Must have been snuck by me when I was in the kitchen._

“I- uh found some money and an address book. It’s got some weird places in it, so I thought it might have some clues to help find the Underworld?”

Grover perks up at that. “Can I see it?”

“Yeah sure.” I hand it to him. He looks through it briefly before gasping.

“What?”

“DOA Recording Studios! That’s where the Underworld is! The address is written right there!” He points at a Californian Address in the booklet.

“Well, know we know where exactly going!” Luke says using my head as an armrest.

Getting curious and feeling mischievous, I ask Luke a seemingly innocent question, “Hey, uh...Where do the gods live? Zeus specifically?” I ask Luke.

“The 600th floor of the Empire State Building, why?” 

I give him a small laugh and a cheeky smile, “I know _exactly_ what I want to do with that head.”


	6. AUTHOR NOTE

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> PLEASE READ

Hey guys it's me, Unicycle_Enthusiast. I have both bad and good news. I'll start with the bad. The reason me and hells_trash_can stopped writing was we both had a loss in motivation and when we finally got it, we were too busy. What's making me come back is hells_trash_can. She will not be writing anymore on this story or any of her stories. She loved this story and always wanted to come back to it. She is no longer is here to do so and this has given me the motivation to continue this story, it's what she would have wanted. I will be keeping her as a co-creator since she did create to the idea with me and did do chapters 2 and 4. While updates will probably be slow and inconsistent, I know you guys would appreciate some content after such a long time. She loved all of the comments and really loved hearing feedback from this little project we had. 

I'm not going to get into detail on what happened with hells_trash_can but I'll say this because I don't want what happened to her to happen to any of y'all. If you ever feel depressed or feel like no one cares please talk to someone. I know I don't really know any of you but I'm always open and any of you are welcome to send me a chat or two if you'd like. I'm on here almost 24/7 so any message will be seen quickly. I hope y'all know that even if you feel like no one is there for you and would miss you if you were gone, that is far from the truth. And like I said if there are any troubles, you just need to vent to a total stranger, or just talk, please message me.

Thank you for reading this and understanding and I apologize for the extended break. I'm planning on getting the next chapter up by the end of the month so get ready, Percy will be back and with a whole lot of sass! Stay stellar (๑˃ᴗ˂)ﻭ !


	7. Chapter 6: And I’m Free! Free Falling!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's the Arch baby! I'd love it if you took a look at the Author note, it'd mean a lot to me ( ◡‿◡ *).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I KNOW this is hella late. A whole month and a half if I'm correct. I'd give a reason and/or an excuse but I do not have one except for a mix of writer's block and lack of motivation. Though now, I'm back and happily writing. I love writing and I know when I'm not in the mood to write, I write bad, boring, and short chapters. And I don't want to disappoint you guys or myself. I have gained interest back in this story and I have more ideas than ever. It feels like I'm writing this when hell_trash_can was still around and it's been really good. And because of this grand motivation to write, I have brought you not one decently sized chapter...but TWO decently sized chapters! Perhaps even a third one by the end of the week or so. I will mention, one of the biggest reasons why I procrastinating this chapter was because of the fight scene. I don't think I'm very good at writing them so I'm always nervous about how they will end up. If anyone has any tips they would like to mention to me that'd be wonderful. And I thrive on constructive criticism so please shoot some my way if you'd think I need it.

“Gotta admit, you got balls,” Luke says looking from above at me while I’m half-asleep in Medusa’s bed.  _ That old hag almost killed me. And this bed is comfortable as fuck. There was no way I was gonna pass that up! _

“Huh?”

He rolls his eyes then replies, “you sent Zeus Medusa’s head and then afterward slept in said bitch’s bed.”

I shrug, “It’s comfy, how the hell was I gonna pass this sweet thing up?”

“Grover found a dog.”

“And? Doesn’t seem too noteworthy, he finds animals all the goddamn time. Wake me up when you get more interesting news,” I roll over onto my side and close my eyes, no longer looking at Luke. “ Like Sailor Jupiter being lit on fire or some shit.”

“If we turn it in we get money~.”

My eyes flash open and I quickly sit up, “Cash? Moo-la? Cha-ching? Dolla dolla bills?”

“Yea, the dog doesn’t really want to go back but it took one look at our raggedy asses and insisted we needed the money.”

“I feel both insulted and grateful at the same time. Though I don’t we need the money since we raided Miss Double One Dice Roll’s place.”

“Double One Dice Roll?”

“Snake Eyes, duh.”

Luke makes a slight ‘oooh’ sound before replying, “Yeah Grover mentioned that but Gondola, or whatever her name is, insisted. Something about that if we don’t need the money we can use it to buy some new clothes.” After that, he ushered me out of bed towards the entrance. 

On the empty road stood Grover holding and talking to a bright pink miniature poodle.  _ Damn, I’d run away too if I had a dye job like that… _

“You really don’t have to! We have money!”

An aggressive bark comes from the dog.

“We aren’t homeless! Or orphans!”

Another bark.

“But-”

A bark cuts him off.

“Gladiola!”

_ Oh, so that’s their (her? he?) name. _ I look to my right to look up and make eye contact with Luke. I shift my eyes and jerk my head towards Grover. Luke stares a moment before shrugging and walking towards the two. I follow closely behind.

Before Luke can say anything, I pop from behind him and ask Grover, “So...what’s the situation?”

“Well, Gladiola is offering to “give himself up” so we can get his return money but I’m saying we don’t need it because we already raided Medusa’s place! He keeps insisting though.”

I give him a blank look, then squint my eyebrows and frown, giving him a slightly upset, a bit confused, but mostly surprised look. “Dude, money’s money. If Gondola here-”

“ _Gladiola_.”

I roll my eyes then continue, “ _ Gladiola _ here, wants to give themselves up then so be it. Plus if they’re being stubborn just go with it.”

Grover gives me a disapproving look.

“ _ What?! _ I’m poor! What do you honestly expect? You think I was gonna give back the money if we didn’t use it all? If I’m going on a life-endangering quest I, _at least_ , better get  _ something _ out of it! A little money for all my future mental trauma!”

Luke lets out a sharp laugh before quickly covering his mouth. The poodle barks again while Grover looks slightly appalled. 

“Now, let’s hand his dog in and get on a train so we can head West!”

* * *

“Dude, this train ride sucks. When I thought about this dangerous quest, I didn’t think the majority of it would be sitting on different modes of transport!”

Luke laughs, “Yeah most quests are like this, to be honest. Use multiple vehicles because most don’t last long enough to get to a location, which is usually unknown until further discussion, then put yourself in danger and hope everything works out for the best.”

“Lame.”

Luke chuckles as he readjusts himself in his seat. Grover is conked out in the seat beside me, Sailor Jupiter cuddled beneath him. I glance at her and make a comment to Luke.

“Ya know, I kinda feel bad for Sailor Jupiter. She’s being drooled on and shit. And I won’t even mention the heavy washing she had to go through after being drenched in snake lady juice.”

“Ditto. You think she counts as a fourth member? ‘Cause if we get any more bad luck, I’m blaming it on her.”

I cackle at Luke’s reply, the only thing keeping me from pounding on the table being Grover’s soft snores. 

“He kinda sounds like a baby goat, ya know?”

Luke snickers before breaking out in song, “Mary had a little lamb, little lamb~”

“Stop!” I put a hand over my mouth to stop any loud laughter threatening to burst out. “That wasn’t even funny!”

“It was a little.”

With a smirk, I shake my head. “Nope!” I say, popping the p.

“You laughed.” He closes his eyes as he shrugs leaning back into his seat.

“And you’re dumb. An idiot. A buffoon. You are not just the clown, but the entire circus.”

Luke scoffs before throwing me a playful smirk. “Ah yes, calling your savior and guardian angel an idiot. Says a lot about you if I’m the one looking after you, hm?”

“Guardian angel? Savior? If your name was Silena, I’d be more inclined to believe you.”

“Well, I could be Selena Gomez.”

I give him a look, “ _ Selena Gomez? Like the one who was on Disney Channel? Really? _ ”

“Hey! You have never seen me and Selena Gomez in the same room before so how do you know that’s not actually me?”

I roll my eyes, “You are  _ not  _ Selena Gomez.”

Luke shrugs, “Who says.”

I give him an irritated look, “Sometimes you test me.”

“Tell me something I don’t know.”

“I will fight you, right here right now.”

“Come and get it.”

“I swear to gods.”

“Woah, slow down.”

“Luke!”

“What?” Luke raises an eyebrow, “Am I not Fergalicious enough for you?”

I sit up from my seat, “That’s a Fergie song! That’s not even  _ close _ to Selena Gomez!”

“Okay okay fine, but you gotta admit. I do make those boys go loco.”

I let out a groan before collapsing back into my seat, “I’m losing brain cells just talking to you!”

“Now you know how I feel.”

I glare at him, but a shine of silver catches my eye before I can retort. I point at it through the glass then comment, “Yo, that’s a huge ass arch.”

Luke gives me a look before leaning up from his seat to stare out the window. “That’s the Gateway Arch, dumbass.”

“Hey! You only know what it’s called just because Annabeth told you!”

Luke ignores my comment and continues, “We gotta go.”

I look away from the window, with eyebrows scrunched and a frown. “ _ Why _ ?”

“Annabeth would kill me if she knew I saw the Gateway Arch and didn’t visit to tell her about it.”

I sigh, “Fine. I guess I still need you so you can still share your dessert.”

* * *

“This is boring as hell.”

“You agreed to it.” Luke shrugs.

“Doesn’t mean I don’t get to complain about it though.”

“Yeah yeah, a few more minutes then we’ll head down.”

I groan, sliding down against one of the stainless steel poles until I’m fully seated on the ground. I cross my arms and sigh, observing the small but hefty amount of people lingering about. It seems like all of the people are waiting for the next lift down though.  _ Strange, and perhaps a bit suspicious _ . The only one other than me and Luke (we left Grover down below due to his fear of elevator music) that is uninterested in the view and the elevator is a large woman with her bigger than usual chihuahua who looks like it’s having its final battle with rabies before it goes feral. The woman’s eyes flick to mine as we make eye contact that I’m none too comfortable with. Her uninterested and bored eyes gleam with an emotion I’m  _ quite _ familiar with.  _ Bloodlust _ . Her lips slowly curl into an unnatural smile. A smile that seems too large  _ or too long _ to fit realistically on her face. Her head tilts slightly to the right, then I see it. A sunbeam casts over her face, causing her brown eyes to reveal their hidden color,  _ red _ .

The familiar sound of the arch’s elevator dings, it echos seeming to bounce around my head before leaving a faint ringing and feeling of relief. I look away from the woman and the relief leaves just as quickly as the large elevator fills with the people I once saw lingering around. My eyes meet the woman’s again and now her smile is much more sinister. I deeply exhale before Luke knocks me out of my thoughts.

“Percy? I know I said the next elevator, but it looks like only one of us is gonna fit. You can go if you’d like…” His voice fades from my ears as I look towards the woman once again.  _ There is no way I’m leaving Luke here alone _ .

“No! I can stay! Rather not leave you alone!” I laugh off my hasty answer.

He chuckles at what he probably believes as nerves at being so high, “You got it.”

The creaking and sliding of closing elevator doors is what kicks the unknown women into gear.

“Looks like we’re alone...Well partially.” Her tongue slick with ooze curls around her top teeth.

Luke’s gaze meets hers and his face becomes paler than I’ve seen it before, “Echidna”.

“Good job boy. Was I really that obvious?” She leans down to leer at us both. “Or did Sonny give it away?”

The chihuahua chatters, its mouth foaming, before deforming in size and shape. 

“Shit!” Luke scrambles back grabbing my wrist and running back to get some distance.

“You both should be quite  _ honored _ . It’s rare Zeus lets little ol’ me get a chance to test scrappy little demigods like you!”

Luke’s eyes flick between the two beasts, “I got Echidna, you got the Chimera.”

I nod before dashing away from Luke and into the fray against the beast. I took a deep breath then lunged away from the incoming lion maw. I reach into my pocket to get Riptide out then pop off the pen top to reveal it in all its celestial bronze glory. I get into a ready stance before the Chimera can notice any weak spots. I take a deep breath before sprinting at it. With my sword, I swing it in a slanted upwards slash drawing first blood. The lion's head rears back to let out a ground-shaking roar before smacking me with its large paw. The swing sends me careening into one of Arch's safety fences. I wince at both the pain in my ribs, the thought of future bruising, and the loud metal  _ thunk _ my body made when it made contact with the bars. Overcoming the pain, I stand up shakily. The Chimera readies itself for a prounce. The moment its legs leave the ground, I barrel to the left of it, unaware of the Chimera's poisonous backside ready for attack. The large head sinks its lethal fangs into the meat of my shoulder, the sparkling white teeth brushing against my shoulder blade. I wheeze, unable to let out anything other than breath. The snake's mouth flings my body onto the metal ground. My head slams into the metal making another hard  _ thunk _ . I let out a whimper as I lay, trying to overcome the heavy feeling of unconsciousness and nausea. I swallow, breathing shakily. The taste of pennies fills my mouth and the smell of blood permeates the area. I force myself to stand, unwilling to go down to this failed anatomy experiment without a fight. My legs tremble, though not because of fright. But before I can fully get my bearings something large is flung into my side causing my vision to blur and black spots to appear as my head clanks against the metal floor. Whatever that was on top of my rolls off and I can breathe once again. I groan as a hand grabs my wrist to help me sit up. 

“Huh?”

I blink my eyes in an effort to clear my vision, “Luke?”

His concerned face becomes clear, “You’re gonna have to jump.”

“What?!” My vision clears almost instantly, surprise shocking it away.

He nods his head towards a large hole that the Chimera made with one of its paws while I battled it.

“I’m not about to leave you here. Plus I’m definitely gonna die if I jump from here.”

“There’s water below, the Mississippi River to be exact. You’ll be fine.”

“Again, I’m not about to leave you here to die!”

Luke pulls my wrist towards his opposite hip, my face mere centimeters from his, “I’m not about to have another quest member die on me when I was there to stop it.” His face was stoney cold, his eyes staring into mine. I gulp. The bite in my shoulder throbs.

“Jump with me.”

“ _ What?! _ ”

“If my dad didn’t kill you when you entered his-slash-my cabin, he’ll save you now. At least if he cares about me he will. And let’s be honest, if you die here and leave this quest to only me and Grover, I’m gonna die anyway. There’s no way I can get 'ole Zappy with only the help of Grover and you know it.”

Luke looks away looking somewhat defeated. He sighs before nodding his head.

“If I die, I’m going for rebirth so I can terrorize you as a child.”

I give him a breathy laugh and a small smile. Then with Luke’s hand in mine, I rolled over to the hole then slid out.

* * *

With a loud splash and clenched eyes, the pair of us make contact with the water. I inhale deeply then glance at Luke to give him a once over. His face is pale though that might be from the death-defying drop rather than that of a corpse. He’s relatively still, his hair ruffling with the lingering waves of our jump. Bubbles of oxygen leave his mouth slowly, burbling to the surface. I let go of his hand to wrap my arm around his chest. I swim upwards but am stopped before I reach the surface.

“The boy will be fine. No need to worry.”

I rotate my body to face her, “Huh?”

She ignores my ever so eloquent response and continues to speak, “Santa Monica. That’s your destination before you enter the underworld. You must do this, your father’s wishes are not to be dismissed, especially after such things he has done for you,” she gestures her hand, pointing Luke out, “ You’ll meet your other quest member soon, trust.”

“Who…?”

“No one you need to acknowledge, just a messenger, boy. Now please, leave. And take the other boy with you.”

I open my mouth to say something but stop before hesitating slightly and finally deciding that a small “ _ thanks _ ” and a nod downwards are appropriate

* * *

“Gods-damn I’m sore.” Luke groans, his clothes soaked in filthy water. Not unlike a dog, he shakes his head then runs a hand through his hair. Though I am filthy, I'm dry, so you win some you lose some.

“Well, you did jump from the Arch into the Mississippi River, what’d ya expect?”

With a hand still in his hair, his eyes roll up to meet mine without his head moving an inch. He gives me a good stare-down before finally responding, “Death.”

I open my mouth only to shut it realizing his point is mostly correct.

"So, where next 'O great quest leader?"

I blink cluelessly before responding, "Uh...West?"

"West it is!" Luke pauses to glance at my injured, though now slightly healed, shoulder, "But first, let's wrap that shoulder."


	8. Chapter 7: Visiting Waterland, or What I Prefer To Call This Chapter, My Most Embarrassing Moment.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Woot Woot Waterland Baby!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Check the last chapter's notes if you haven't read them!

Our reunion with Grover was a wet one, to say the least. He was blubbering, big fat tears streaming down his face. I could barely understand what he was uttering. With his body practically wrapped around me, I look at Luke for translation. 

I furrow my brows and widen my eyes as if saying 'do you know what the hell he's saying!?'. He frowns his left side of his lip curling downwards. His brows rise to reach his hairline as he shrugs.

I sigh and deadpan, patting Grover's back a couple of times before pushing him away. I hold his upper arms then say, " Get a hold of yourself G-man. What's Sailor Jupiter gonna think when you over here cryin' like a baby?"

Grover looks shocked as he turns his head to look at Sailor Jupiter. He looks ashamed. I sigh.

" _ Any _ way, let's get back on the train and hope it takes us far."

* * *

"Welp, this is the last stop." I look to my left to spot a sign with large letters. "Huh, Ervenr. Never heard of this place. What state are we in?"

Luke looks appalled before responding, "We're  _ Denver _ , wherein the ever-loving Tartarus did you get  _ Ervenr _ ?"

I point to the sign. He goes to speak but as he makes eye contact with the letters on the sign, the sentence on his tongue disappears.

"Hey, how did you know  _ where _ we are anyway?"

Luke turns to me, "Son of Hermes remember, god of travel? I know exact coordinates and where we are?"

My mouth forms an 'o' as I nod but no words fully form.

There is a silence between us. We stare at each other as Grover's hushed words to Sailor Jupiter are blocked out by our ears. He steps closer ready to say something but is interrupted by the loud growl of my stomach.

My eyes widen as my face heats. He slaps a hand over his mouth, his ice-blue eyes crinkle, a laugh tearing at the seams of his mouth ready to burst.

I send him a playful glare as I hold back a smile, "Don't you laugh. I swear to gods."

His shoulders tremble. I shake my head.

"Don't you fucking  _ dare _ ."

Luke breaks. He claps his hands in front of him as he cackles at my embarrassment.

With a glare I yell at him, "I'm hungry okay?!"

His laughing pauses for a brief moment to ponder. A gleam reaches his eye and a smirk unfurls on his face. It fits perfectly, like peanut and jelly there's Luke and a smirk right next to it on a scale of things that go together perfectly.

"Hi, Hungry. I'm Luke."

Silence. I look at him. My jaw unhinges. I turn away from him, refusing to acknowledge his joke, and walk toward Grover who's stood awkwardly at the train building's exit. 

"Hey! You can't ignore me like this! You know I can't pass up an opportunity like that! Percy!

* * *

“You positive you kids can pay for this?” The older waitress says. Now I’m all for respecting your elders but when they don’t respect you back, that’s where I draw the line.

“Ma’am, just because we look homeless doesn’t mean we are.” I glare at her,  _ this _ close to knocking those stereotypical cat-eyed glasses off her face.  _ I’m hungry and injured. I’m  _ not _ ready for any mortals' bullshit right now _ .

The waitress scowls before finally leading us to a table. I slide into both with an effort not to put pressure on my shoulder area. Once in, I take a deep sigh, already over this quest.  _ I just wanna go home. See my mom, hell I’ll take sitting in the same room as Gabe for a whole  _ week _ then continue.  _ Crossing my arms, I flop them onto the table. With a groan, I place my forehead on my cross arm's wrists.

Luke scooches in the seat beside me, “You good?” I turn my head to look at him. His head is tilted, a worried look on his face. I glance at him before turning my attention to the recently cleaned table. I swallow a lump in my throat getting ready to speak.

The loud clank of a door entrance bell accompanied by a loud slam of a door draws the attention of the entire room including Luke and me. I lift up my head from my arms to take a look at the perpetrator. The said perpetrator is a large burly man dressed as a stereotypical biker. His black leather jacket is unzipped showing off the worn crimson t-shirt below. The chains hanging off his black pants clink together when he turns in our direction. We make eye-contact and a cruel smirk curls on his face. Behind his sunglasses, two glowing red orbs beam out from beneath them. He swaggers towards us, uncaring what the rest of the room seems to think. Shoving his way into the booth, he crushes Grover into both the table and the window. The satyr squeaks like a stepped-on dog toy. I wince at the pitiful sight and part of me feels bad for all of the short end of the sticks he’s been getting. 

“So, I heard some little demi-who-whats-its are on a quest for Dad’s Bolt. Well, I’m here to offer a little help in these trying times since I’m such a gracious God.”

I stare at him, blink for a few seconds, then reply, “Absolutely not. Everything has a price and I’m not about to let you lead us on a side quest when I’m in the middle of a time-sensitive main quest.” Luke shoots me a shocked loo

The God before me grits his teeth before replying, “So that’s how it’s gonna be huh?”

I glare, “Unless you can magically give me the bolt or teleport us to right to where it is. Then there is no way I’m helping you.”

The god chuckles, “You got spunk kid. Honestly, shoulda known since you were the one who broke my kid's spear.” He leans in close, “now what if I tell you that someone somewhere has your Ma’?”

My brows furrow, “ The fuck you on about?”

The god pulls a newspaper from thin air before slamming it onto the table and sliding it over for me to read. “Let’s just say Sally Jackson has been missing for a few weeks now.” In large black letters, the title reads, “  **DELINQUENT TEENAGE SON KIDNAPS MOTHER** ” **.** I snatch it from the table carefully trying to translate the mishmash of English letters before me. I freeze when both my name and my mothers are mentioned. Cold sweat begins to collect as my body trembles.  _ It’s my fault. I left her with Gabe. She had noone to protect her. It was me who let her get 'napped. If it wasn't for me getting dragged to camp and leaving her alone without a word this would have never happened. _

Pulling myself together, I answer to who I now assume is Ares, “What the hell do you want?”

“My shield. Hell, kid I’ll even tell you where it is. Waterland, Thrill Ride O' Love. You get it, I’ll tell you anything you’d like to know about where your Ma’ is.”

* * *

"Even I can read  _ that _ ." Luke points out looking above and the pitiful sign Waterland has chosen to present. The majority of the letters are missing, from someone far away it would read " **WA R A** ". 

"Looks like we're climbing boys." I stare at the chain locked gate entrance with a gloomy expression

"Perce, son of Hermes here. Leave it to the expert." Luke proceeds to swagger up to the gate and slide a paperclip out of his pocket. Though I can't see his face, I can  _ feel _ the smirk on it as he expertly twirls the paperclip through his fingers. It grows in size, more than double of what it was before when it swirls between his dexterous fingers. He halts the movements of the thing with the pad of his thumb.  _ Do I know what he's holding? Hell no. That thing looks like a screwdriver had a love child with a pen. _ He bends over, unintentionally blocking what he's doing from view. After a few seconds of fiddling,  _ or what I assume is fiddling _ , the lock comes undone. With a pivot, Luke's shit-eating grin faces us once again. He kicks out his heel and the gates recoil with a sharp  _ clang _ .

"Tada!" He does quick jazz hands before spinning the screwdriver-pen-lovechild in his hand. The thing turns back into a paperclip then he proceeds to slide the thing into his pocket so it hugs to the edge of it.

"Ya know, I should've expected that."

Luke nods with a shrug. He then chooses to walk backward. "So, Thrill Ride 'O Love, huh?"

"Yep," I say popping the p. "Ya know when he mentioned a date with Aphrodite after our whole discussion I didn't think this place would be so..."

"Run-down?" Grover pipes up.

“Trashy?” Luke offers.

“Sketchy?”

“Dingy?

“Shoddy?”

“Grimy?”

“Decrepit?”

I stare at the two both shocked and amazed at the two walking thesauruses, “I was gonna say crappy but y’all’s work too.” 

For a few moments, we look around but still stay in the same relative place. Taking my eyes off the Dude’s Where my Swimsuit? ride I look at Luke.  _ Shit. _

“What’s with the grin?” I ask exasperated.

“You guys wanna rob a gift shop?”

* * *

“Not gonna lie, I’m a little too thick for these shorts.” I turn in the full body mirror, admiring myself a little too much.  _ Man, if I wasn’t me. I’d tap that. Ya know what. Nevermind. I'd tap that, even if I was me, which I  _ am.

“What?” Both Luke and Grover turn to me flabbergasted.

“What the hell are those?” Luke says pointing at the skimpy shorts I’m sporting. I strike a pose, putting emphasis on the pinkish neon red shorts with white and yellow hibiscuses printed on. The soft baby blue Waterland shirt that replaced my old one is tucked into the shorts though it still billows out.  _ Not my fault I’m a small and all I could find was an XL or above. At least for ones that looked and smelt fine. _

“They're only shorts that fit me. I’d rather them be smaller than larger. I don’t wanna be fighting some monsters and my pants fall down,” I reply. I stick the tips of my fingers inside my pockets then give them a little wiggle to show off how tiny they are. Riptide in pen form is only shoved half-way in due to pocket's size. 

“Don’t want your pants to rip when you’re fighting either.”

“Like you look any better.” I scoff at Luke’s outfit. He’s decked out in a pair of dark blue and yellow cargo shorts and a tacky black Waterland shirt. “At least I look cute. You look like a dad who goes to the beach only to get sunburn ‘cause you slept the whole day.”

“Hey hey, I have a shirt on.”

‘Yeah, like  _ that’s _ the thing saving you.”

* * *

“I’m gonna throw up.” I frown up at the busted heart sign that used to light-up, or at least I think it did, announcing the ride’s name.

“Which is it? The smell or the tackiness?” Luke leans down to my height with his hands stuffed into his pockets to speak to me.  _ Curse you, you 6’1 lookin’ ass.  _ A few feet away from us is Grover who’s gagging. 

“Both.” I grimace, knowing we have to go in there.

Luke sends a glance towards Grover, “Looks like we’re alone together in this.”

“I guess…”

We approach the entrance. Going inside, we climb through the crumbled remains of the ride. Crumpled faces of cupids and rusting red and pink hearts litter the floor and walls. 

“Ran ya’!” Luke then leaps over a hot pink line barrier.

“What! No-way! I’m gonna get a lock-jaw! Or Tinnitus or what the fuck you get from rust in wounds.” Ignoring my own words, I grab a railing then slide myself under it, chasing after him.

Like the ass he is, Luke wins. Easily. “You dick. You’re like an Olympic runner! What the hell!” I breath out, only a little out of breath. Luke is, as expected, perfectly fine.

“If I didn’t run away from I’d quite honestly be on track. And by the way, it's tetanus, not tinnitus.”

"Oh, then the fuck is timmitus?"

"That's when your ears ring and shit."

"Hmm."

I like the gremlin I am, I spot something sparkling. I walk around Luke to look inside the ride’s cart. Inside is a pink twinkling scarf. I snatch it. It’s soft even though it looks sheer and itchy. 

“Percy!”

I turn to look at Luke, “What?”

“That’s Aphrodite’s scarf! Leave it!”

“Huh? Why?”

“It’s supposed to curse you or some shit like that. I don’t know, forgot what Annabeth said. Something about love magic.”

“Well it’s not doin’ anything and ya know what, I’m gonna keep it.”

“Percy!”

I throw the scarf at him, he yelps and out of instinct grabs it. Before my eyes, his eyes glaze over as he brushes the scarf against his skin and breathes in deeply. He coos curling himself around the scarf. Horrified, I approach him and pull it back from him. He whines. I slap him.

“Ow!” Luke rubs his cheek, “the hell?” He peers around, “ _ the hell?! _ ”

I lift up the scarf then swish it in the air for a bit.

“Why..?”

“Big Three blood perhaps? I have no clue.” I shrug. “Well anyway, Ares shield was under the scarf so wanna help me grab that, it's stuck between some floorboards. Wouldn't be surprised if Ares shoved it in there for "safekeeping".”

Luke shivers, rolls his shoulders, shakes his head then joins me in the cart. The cart is extremely simple, set up wise. It's just a wagon in the shape of a heart and has room for only two people. I step over the shield, getting on the side with the strap.

"Ready?"

I nod, "Yep."

"3..2..1!"

We both pull on the shield, Luke across from me is doing a majority of the work. It slides out after a final tug. The faint sound of a _click_ echos in the small room. I look at Luke confused and a tiny bit worried.  _ Click, Clang! _

I look down at my foot. Around my ankle is what I believe is a celestial bronze anklet and chain. "Luke!"

"Wha-".  _ Click, clang! _ Luke looks down, " _ shit _ ."

The anklets roll backward forcing us to sit, unable to get up. 

"Percy!" 

"Huh?"

"Your right!"

I look to my right and what do you know, hundreds of metallic spiders climb up the side of the wagon, sitting seeming to wait for the go-ahead or signal.

"LIVE ON OLYMPUS, 120 SECONDS!"

The spiders lunge to the opposite sides then make their way around the cart before repeating to process repeatedly. After they are finished, the metal anklets release us.

In classical fashion, the two of us look at each other wide-eyed and then at the camera above us. " _ Shit." _

" _ Luke _ .  _ I'm not having the first time my dad sees me is when I'm tied up, panicked, and on a  _ **_love ride!_ ** "

"You think I want my dad to know about this either? He'll  _ never _ let me live it down."

"90 SECONDS."

"Luke! Think of something!"

"You're the quest leader!" 

"Awhh! Fine! I gotta plan. Better hold on tight 'cause I'm gonna blow this popsicle stand." Luke gets a worried look.

I take a deep breath.  _ If I can breathe underwater and be able to stay dry when I walk out of it I must be able to control it. It's now or never. If I fail the reputation that we hold, wait let me rephrase that, the reputation that Luke holds will be ruined, and as much as I love to see him suffer he'll never forgive me if Travis and Connor find out.  _

“60 SECONDS.”

I focus on the toggle in the pit of my stomach letting it fester. My powers, especially since I have had relatively no practice, are wildly uncontrollable. For me, it was all or nothing. I was either a full blast water assault or being able to only use water to do the simple non-willable things like breathing and healing in it. Like a can of freshly shook soda, I finally lifted the lid, releasing whatever control I had trying to restrain what is considered the freest thing in the world.

I snapped open my eyes as the water blasts us upwards. Like a pressure washer would, the wires that were wrapped fully around the cart whip away leaving both Luke and me now seatbelt less. We both floated upwards before slamming back down into our seats. The now rapid waters dragging our cart down a bumpy and jerky path. We both yelled as we held on to the sides of the wagon, clutching for dear life.

“15 SECONDS.”

“Percy!”

I whip my head around to look at Luke who is drenched once again, “Huh?”

“Ahead! There’s no way for us to stop! We’ll be flung right into the concrete!”

“Fuck!”

“I gotta plan!”

“Why didn’t you lead with that!”

“You got to trust me though!”

I met Luke’s gaze with mine. His brows are furrowed, a hopeful yet worried expression is on his face, “Of course I trust you. Whatcha got?”

Luke smirks, “Just follow my lead.”

_ I’m starting to regret agreeing. _

As we near the end the final announcement plays, “LIVE IN 3..2..1!” The cameras that were in every nook and cranny all pan towards us as our ride of doom approaches its end. The end of the ride nears and finally our cart slams into the ending wall of the ride sending Luke and me ass over a tea kettle into the air.

“ _ Maia! _ ” 

The next thing I know, I caught bridal style with little effort from Luke except for a slight  _ oof _ from him. I open my eyes to stare directly into a camera in front of me. I blink before getting a hold of myself.

And with me being cradled like a blushing bride in Luke's arms, I thank the camera and send it a peace sign, “Hope you were entertained asshats!”

* * *

“What the hell is with you guys getting into deadly situations whenever I leave you alone?”

Luke and I look at each other and shrug. Luke had changed once again, though he still sports the same outfit though this one isn’t wet and filthy from Thrill ‘O Love Ride water.

“Well, I got the shield so let’s head back and give this,” I hold up the shield, “ motherfucker back to another motherfucker.”

* * *

I stomp into the restaurant, gunning towards Ares. Throwing the shield recklessly on the table, I give the god my best glare, “What the hell?”

“What? A little ride like that too exciting for you?”

“You fucking tricked us!”

“And? You still got my shield back. I could care less what you think. And here I was being so kind, I even was gonna throw in this backpack.” He unzips the bag to reveal hundreds of mortal cash and drachmas. I resist the urge to drool at what would be a full month's rent, maybe even two, for my current apartment. 

Reeling back my anger, spite, and pride, I thank Ares as he shows us our ride and chucks me the backpack.

“Stick on the truck till it stops, from there it’s only a short way to your destination. That was strike one punk. Don’t get on my nerves again or else you’re gonna be on the wrong end of my spear.”

I growl as he slides onto his motorcycle and glides off leaving a big puff of black smoke in his wake.

“Dude’s a douche.”

“A-greed.”


	9. Chapter 8: I Become the Lotus Casino’s Best Gambler

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now with this one, I changed the layout a bit. Instead of Luke's point of view is in the third person, I did it in the first person because it suits to story more. I would change the last chapter with the third person in it but hells_trash_can wrote that and I prefer not to touch her writing. It out of respect for her and her writing and even though it messes with the layout and style I'm willing to take the L. But anyway, other than that...It's Lotus Casino guys. This one's my shortest chapter. I like keeping the style of the only one big event happening in each chapter so this one is a bit short. I will be working on the next chapter though. I'm really happy since we're so close to the end! Eee! Next chapter will most likely be longer since I have to cover more things.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let's just say this chapter's out earlier than I was expecting. I had school off and being a senior practically means I have no homework so what better way to spend my day? Let's do this! I've been loving the most recent comments I think they are great and I think I might start replying to comments. I have had before since I very really got the courage, hell I never commented on another person's work. If you have questions, I'll definitely reply to you. I've also had a great plan for this series. I'm thinking of soing Interludes between "books". It would fill in some gaps in my writing and/or some funny scenarios that happened during the book but I couldn't find a place to put them or they weren't fitting the flow of the story. I'd keep them incomplete since I might decide to add stuff I think of even if I'm in the middle of a different PJO book.

“That bastard left before I could ask about my mom.”

Luke snatches the backpack out of my hands and rummages through it. I look at his strangely wondering what exactly he’s looking for. After a few moments, he pulls out a pad of paper. Written on it is _Your Ma’s alive, continue on your quest and you’ll find her_.

“He told me if I took this quest I could ask him anything about my Mom, What the hell?”

Luke puts a hand on my shoulder, “They’re gods Perce. If you don’t lock them in with a promise to the Styx, nine out of ten times they’ll go back on their word. And he’s an ass anyway do you really want to talk with him longer?”

I sigh, my head down, “Not really. I guess you’re right.”

Luke slides his hand down my shoulder to my biceps. He pats it before speaking, “Now let’s get on this truck before Grover gets a coronary looking at these mistreated zoo animals.”

* * *

“Man this sucks.”

“Sucks? _Sucks?_ This is terrible! How could people just do this to these beautiful creatures?!” Grover continues to go on a rant about the treatment of the animals. I tune it out once he starts talking about satyr equality.

“So…”

“So..?”

Luke looks at Grover, “We should probably let these animals free when we arrive at our stop.”

“I’d agree with you but they’ll probably get either shot or re-captured by animal control so it’s kinda a moot point.”

The zebra stomps a hoof and huffs at my words. I look towards it and stare at the food it’s given. _Is that a hamburger? Why the hell who you give a zebra a hamburger?_ Feeling bad, I grasp the walls of the moving truck to make my way over to the zebra’s cage. I stick my hand between the bars of the cage, “Hey bud, you hungry?” 

What I didn’t expect was for the horse to begin speaking to me, “Yes, very little lord. Starving. Lion has food, my food no good.” I look towards the lion’s cage to spot a bag of radishes laying half turned over on the floor. I nod, grabbing the zebra’s burger and heading towards the lion.

I kneel before the cage, “Hey big guy, wanna trade this meat for those radishes?” The lion blinks before getting up to approach me. Unwrapping the burger, I stick it through the bars for him to eat. He gently clasps the food between his teeth. He finished it quickly then began licking my hand with his large sandpaper tongue. With my other hand, I drag the bag of radishes towards me and slide them through the bars of the cage. I give the lion a pat before returning to the zebra.

The Zebra chuffs happily, “Yes! Little lord had food. Thank.” I smile shoving the bag of radishes through the cage bars. 

I return to my seat next to Luke, “Maybe we can try and release them. Though where would they go?”

“Pray to god maybe? Hestia's a good choice. She’s one of the nicest gods and she’s all about home and hope so…”

“Pray to Hestia for these animals to find a good home?” 

Luke nods.

I close my eyes and begin a prayer to Hestia, _uh, hey it’s your um...nephew I think? So...we’re kind of stuck in this truck for a while and we’re with these animals that need a good home so I was wondering if when we let these guys out can you find them a good home?_

A twinkling laugh fills my ears a few seconds after my prayer. _Of course. Your kindness goes many bounds Perseus. I do wish Tyche be with you, Zeus is becoming angrier each second he is without his bolt. I will do this for you, free of charge. Though I wouldn’t mind a visit or two at the Hearth at camp._ The same laugh echoes again signaling her exit.

“Um, I think we’re good? Though you’ll probably have to lockpick the cages.”

* * *

After letting loose the animals in the truck, we are greeted by a man dressed as a bellhop, “Well hi! Welcome!” the man pulls the group of us into the hotel-casino place. A glance towards tells me the place’s name, The Lotus Casino.

All our jaws drop at the sheer awesomeness that is this place. Cards are thrust into our hands.

Luke pipes up, “How much are on these?”

The bellhop looks at us thinking he’s joking but the confused look on our faces tells him the real story, “More than you can even imagine.”

Saliva collects in my mouth, the sheer amount of money this one card holds. _More than I can imagine. Now imagine if I had more than one…_

- **(Luke)-**

Now I’m not the most paranoid person, I’m a son of Hermes for gods’ sake, but I like to pride myself on being able to stay on my toes, so when I was pulled into the Lotus Casino alarm bells immediately went off. It all felt _extremely_ familiar like Annabeth had told me a story similar to this. _Lotus….Lotus...What had to do with lotuses?_

Percy had left the hotel room a while ago muttering stuff about poker and lotus cards. Grover had also left sniffing the air and hearts in his eyes with Sailor Jupiter bridal style in his arms. So here I was alone in the hotel room, decked out in a tacky Waterland outfit. _I do look like a dad at the beach._

I huff opening up the closet knowing that there probably wasn’t anything in it. To my surprise, it was filled with clothes I would usually wear. _This place is getting more and more suspicious._

I get dressed in dark grey jeans with a mono jacket over a light grey hoodie. I cross my fingers hoping we don’t get into another fight since this outfit I’m wearing is fly as hell and I’d _love_ to keep it. Hell, I’ll even pray to my dad. _Dad, I’ve got mad drip right now. Please give me the luck to not have it ruined please and thank you._

Now, time to go lurk around trying to figure out what the hell is going on in the place.

The people here _are fucking weird_ . Both the staff and the guests. Some of the guests look like they’re from the ’80s and even some from the ’50s. _Almost positive I saw an Elvis impersonator._

“Cookie?”

I jump, flipping around to stare at the waiter that was behind me. On his platter is an arrangement of different lotus cookies. Some are shaped like the flower and others just have a frosted drawing of a lotus. _There is no fucking way I’m eating that cookie. Wait...There’s no way I’m eating that lotus flower cookie. Lotus flower cookie...Lotus flower...Eating..._ oh shit... _They're the fucking Lotus-eaters!.. Fuck!_

With a pale face, I quickly refuse. I step back before turning around and fast walking away. I flick my head left to right trying to find a familiar shortie with bluish-black hair. _Poker. Poker. Muttered something about poker._

I pause and look to my right. A huge group of people surrounds what looks like a gambling table. _Poker?_ I sneak my way over and push my way through the crowd around the table. The first thing I spot is the large pile of goodies in the middle. Poker chips, mortal money, a couple of drachmas, and even a few lotus cards. I glance at the players at the table, only one really catches my eye though.

“Percy!”

At the call of his name, he looks up from his cards, glances around then finally makes eye contact with me, “Luke!” He smiles.

“What are you doing?”

He sizes up his cards then replies, “Gambling.” Beside him, hidden from view before I walked over is a sizable load of prizes. “Raise,” he then pushes his entire pile into the middle.

The table goes wide-eyed.

“Did you just bet _everything_!?”

With a stone-cold, he nods and silently dares the rest of the table to go against him. “It’s the final round around the table. All or nothing Luke, all or nothing.”

A jittering man sitting next to Percy finishes his turn by declaring he’s holding. It continues like that until a woman looking like she’s from the ’20s in a complete flapper look pushes in her entire pile. 

“Raise,” is uttered from her smug rouge smirk.

Percy splits into a shit-eating grin. The next and final turn goes to a man who, wisely, chooses to hold.

The rouge-lipped woman placed her card face up on the table in a neat pile then pushed them spreading them across her area. A royal flush, all hearts. She giggles looking all too happy. Percy lets out a breathless laugh, I hold my breath. He lays his cards, back-facing, in his hand against the table, and then like the drama king he flips them and lets them fall the small distance onto the table. A royal flush...of spades. The woman’s ice blue eyes widen, a horrified look on her face as Percy pushes the load of rewards towards himself. He flags down a Lotus Eater and asks for a backpack to hold his winnings.

“Percy...what the hell was that?!”

“That’s called winning _bitch_. Now let’s get the fuck out of here.” Percy shoves his winnings into his backpack and swings it onto his back when he sits up from the table.

I gave him a shocked look.

“What? I’ve read the Iliad. Quite recently too, Chiron as Mr. Brunner had it as a book report during Latin class. It’s not hard to guess that the cookies they’re having out are actually lotuses.”

“Why didn’t you mention anything right away then? I’ve been looking around forever for you. I have no idea where Grover is!”

“Oh, he’s by the buffet.” Percy points to a table sitting Grover and Sailor Jupiter across from each other. A white candle in a heart holder is sat between them.

“Hades…”

Percy nods disappointedly then heads over, ”Let’s go G-man, these guys are no good Lotus Eaters.”

Grover blinks quickly then stares at us horrified.

“Yeah...now let’s get out of here.”


	10. Chapter 9: I Play Catch with Spot, or Cerberus if You’re Uncultured

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We're in the final stretch baby! Get it? 'Cause of Crusty? No? I'll go home...though I'll drop off this chapter before I go!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter whooo! I got one more to go and that will be the end of the first book! Like I said in the last chapter, I am writing an extras book that will include side stories, alternate scenes that a wrote but ended up re-writing, and deleted scenes that I wanted but didn't fit the overall story. I have one already done and that story will be pretty much never fully completed. They are in no order. But anyway I already have the plan set up for the next book so I'm ready for it! This chapter was also finished before I thought it would be as well. Honestly, the next chapter will probably be uploaded soon as well since I'm really excited!

After sneaking out of the Lotus Casino, I hailed a taxi with a loud stereotypical New York whistle. We hopped in and, unfortunately, I was in the middle.

“Where to?” The driver behind the plexiglass asks.

“Santa Monica.”

The driver’s eyes bug, “Kid, that’s a 4-hour drive.”

“I got the money.”

He looks skeptical.

Giving Luke grabby hands, he reads the signal and hands me my special bag. With a smug grin I slid out one of my many casino cards, “You take casino cards?”

“It’s Vegas kid. Of course, I do. Just gotta check what’s on it.”

I grinned cheekily, “Go right ahead.”

He snatches the card out of my hand and slides it through his machine. As it counts the money the familiar sound of a slot machine rises in volume as the display screen spins through numbers faster than can be deciphered. It slows and the screen goes blank then with a clunk an infinity sign falls where the numbers were. Through the rearview mirror, I can spy the flabbergasted look the driver has plastered in his face.

“Uh…”

“So...can you get us there?”

He sputters, “Of course! Your...majesty?”

I smile in a sickly sweet way, getting more comfortable on the faux leather seat. Feeling smug and satisfied I look at the display screen that showed

“Hey, Luke…”

He lifts his head from the window to face me.

“Am I reading that right?” I point to the date displayed.

He narrows his eyes then pales.

“June- _ shit! _ ”

* * *

"Why are we on the Santa Monica beach?" Luke asks with 

"My dad said I had to. No idea where exactly he wants me or when though…"

Luke grunts and starts muttering about sand in his sneakers.

"Little Lord!" 

With my attention caught, I turn around looking around at the empty beach. I furrow my brows. 

"Little Lord!" 

I look towards the sea and see a mako shark swimming around the shore. Feeling stupid, I approach the shark.

"Hello, Little lord."

I chuckle awkwardly, "Just call me Percy."

"Okay, little lord."

I go to speak but resign myself to accept what was said. 

"I have come for you."

"Is this about my father?"

"I believe so. He has a gift though he cannot visit you.”

I nod.  _ Of course, he can't, what did I expect… _ I walk over to it and begin to wade through the water towards it.

“Percy!”

I freeze and turn around.

“Is this your dad thing?”

“I think so...I probably won’t be long. Just stay here, I'll be back soon.”

Luke shoots me an encouraging look, “better be. We only got one day left.”

I nod gravely then swaddle my way through the water and on top of the shark.

* * *

“So, what’s the big gift?”

“Just some pearls. Told me to smash them when I am in great need. Mentioned something about ‘whatever’s born from the sea, returns to it’.”

“Oh...guess they'll help us eventually.”

“I don’t like the implications of that.”

Luke opens his mouth, closes it, then speaks, “Yea.”

I sigh. 

“Hey, kid!”

Surprised, I whirl around to face a bigger man in a police uniform, “Um, hello? May I help you?”

“Are you Perseus Jackson?”

Luke to the left of me let out a barely concealed snort at my name. I elbow his side. 

“Who’s asking?”

The cop’s eyes narrow, “An officer kid.”

“And what if I was?”

“Then I'd have to bring you in for questioning. I can either take you willingly or I can arrest you. Now, are you Perseus Jackson or not?”

“I plead the fifth.” Flipping this policeman the bird, I snatch Grover and Luke’s arms and high-tail it out of there. Grover’s basically crying at this point. If he was scared before, he’s shitting his pants now. Luke, like the troublemaker he is, is cackling while he takes the lead of our running away escapade. He leads us through alleyways all while dodging through civilians around us. As a final stop, or at least as a rest stop he leads us into an unassuming store.

“Well hello! Welcome! Welcome! I’m Crusty and these are my mattress, though I do sell the whole bed ensemble if you’d like that too!” The man speaking towers not just over me but everyone else in the group. Even though the inside of the store is fairly basic, all neutral colors, the man known as Crusty sticks out like a sore thumb against the neutral tones. The deep plum of his suit is not what catches my eye though, it’s his withered skin. He looks old enough to be my great-grandfather but if you just left him out in the sun for  _ way _ too long.  _ He sure earned the name Crusty for good reason. _

“Mattresses?” I ask.

“Yes, sir-ee! I’ve got kings, queens, twins, and singles. Whatever you’re dreamin’, we’re schemin’.”

Grover all hyped up for a nice nap and chillax break is all for it and to be honest...so am I. 

Grover finally pipes up, “You got massagers?”

“I got massage beds if that’s what you’re referring to.”

The two of us gain stars in our eyes as Crusty points a sickly thin finger at a group of beds parallel to each other. We both sprint over and lunge on top of them. I shimmy up it, looking for the controller for the massager.  _ My back hurts from carrying this damn quest.  _

“Ergo!” 

Grover and I let out a yelp as we’re both strapped to our chosen beds by our hands and feet.  _ This is the Thrill ‘O Love Ride all over again! _ The straps click and become taunt. I wince out of pain. My eyes clenched shut and I grimaced.

“Luke!” My joints ache as they’re pulled slowly but surely out of their sockets. I open my watery eyes to see Luke chattering courteously with Crusty.  _ What the  _ fuck _ is he doing?! _ “Luke!” He looks at me for a moment and with a millisecond wink and smile, he’s back to talking with Crusty. I let out a harsh breath trying to block out the numbness spreading through my fingertips. I swallow the lump in my throat.  _ Gods-dammit Luke hurry it up! _ I yelp softly as the machine gives my limbs another hard yank. I clench both my teeth and eyes praying to the one god I’ll know who will.  _ Dear Hestia, I know Luke’s probs got this covered but please  _ please _ let it stop... _ A feeling only described as warm goosebumps runs across my body pauses the pain for only a few seconds.  _ I’m sorry Perseus, it’s as much as I can do with directly interfering with your quest. Do not worry young one. The son of Hermes, Lucas or Luke I think he prefers, has it under control. A few more seconds dear. _

“Ergo!” After the exclamation from Luke the sound of a blade making contact with skin, my limbs are released. I wheeze, curling into myself. I rub my wrists and open my eyes to see dark purple and pukey yellow bruises still latched around them.

My attention on my wrist disappears as Luke places a piece of ambrosia on my open palm, “Eat. It’ll at least make the bruises fade, though I’m not sure about the pain. Let’s hurry, we still got to get to the underworld.

I nod before wallowing in my own self-pity about getting out of the amazingly stellar bed. “You think I have enough drachmas to get your dad to ship one to my house or cabin?”

* * *

“So this is the Underworld huh?”

“Entrance to the Underworld.” Grover pops up from behind me to say.

“So how do we get in?”

“Die.”

“Well yeah but like...any other way?”

“We could fake our death and maybe get in. Depends on how well Charon takes a bribe or a massive lie.”

We walk in and cross the room immediately towards Charon. 

“Three tickets to the Underworld please.”

He stares at us for a second, “No denial? No ‘I’m too young to die’ or ‘I’m not dead what are you talking about?’?”

I shake my head.

“Well then, how’d you all die then?”

All at the same time, we answer the question with polarizing responses.

“Vehicular Manslaughter.”

“Drowning.”

“Bees.”

Me, Charon, and Grover all look at Luke dumbfounded at his response.

He soon notices our stares, “What?” he then says shyly and most uncharacteristically, “They’re scary…”

“You all didn’t die did you?”

We hang our heads in shame.

“Well, sorry. I can’t take any of you dow-.”

I fish out three drachmas and set them on the table.

The god in his fancy Italian suit raises an eyebrow, “If you think three drachm-” His eyes bulge at the small but hefty bag I set on the table. The bag spills over and tens of golden drachmas rush out showing Charon really how much is in the bag. He gains an ecstatic grin, “With this amount...I’ll take you anywhere kid.

* * *

"You said you'd take me anywhere." I deadpan.

"Within possibility kid. Can't get you past the dog. Cerberus even scares  _ me _ , kid."

I groan then hop off the fairy with Luke and Grover behind me. 

"Whelp, this is where we die," Luke says looking into the distance where Cerberus guards. Grover lets out a dry sob. 

I sigh and try to think of something.  _ It's a dog. How hard would it be to get past it? I would need a distraction but what? I've got nothing to distract the thing! _

Luke is walking around the outskirts of Cerberus's reach. He seems to be looking for a way to sneak past it with not just him. In his hand, he's fiddling with his paperclip.  _ How could I forget! _

"Can I borrow Apokalyftheís?" I ask Luke as he distractedly loiters around.

"Uh...why?" He bends the paperclip back into its original shape and holds it just out of my reach.

A smirk slides onto my face, " just trust me."

Luke's eyes narrow and he slowly but surely hands me the paperclip. "If you lose or break it-".

"I won't".  _ Hopefully _ . "Um, how does this thing work again?"

"You think of something and it transforms into it when you spin it through your fingers like a switchblade.”

I nod and begin to spin the paperclip between my fingers. The first turn it takes around my finger fails and the paperclip falls to the dark rocky ground. I stare at the paperclip at my feet awkwardly. Luke clears his throat and rubs his hand over his cheek and mouth. I shift my eyes haphazardly around before making eye contact with him.

“Do you need help?”

“No!” Swallowing my pride I admit defeat, “yea.”

He leans down to grab it, ”Whatcha want?”

“A huge red ball.”

Luke blinks a few times with a confused look on his face.

“Just do it.”

He sighs, “Fine.” He flicks the paperclip in the air with his thumb then catches it with his pointer and middle finger. He proceeds to twirl the paperclip through his finger, not unlike a switchblade. He gives the paperclip a final fling in the air. It glows a yellowish-white color before enlarging in size and landing in his hands. He throws it in the air a few times before making a chest pass to me.

“Thanks.” I make my way over to the huge rottweiler. In my best pet voice, I begin to speak,” Hey buddy.”

The three heads growl and snarl right in my face. A large glob of drool flings in my direction but is quick, and thankfully, dodged. I swing the red ball from around my back and slowly move it around in the air. With the dog’s attention caught and attitude changed, I go back to speaking.

“Hiiiii~ Wanna play fetch? Fetch?” I nod my head rapidly and an open mouth smile on my face. Cerberus gets into a pounce stance and his tail makes loud thunks causing the ghosts in the area to stumble and/or fall. I throw the ball to my left making sure it’s still in Cerberus’s reach. I can hear Luke’s screech of wariness and fear behind me. The large beast gallops its way towards the ball and picks it up in one of its large maws, the middle one to be specific. The right and left heads nip at the ball, pulling at the middle head’s ears and fur.

“Hey!” The head whirl towards me. “Again?” Cerberus approaches me. “Drop it.” He whines. “Drop it…” The ball rolls out of the middle head’s mouth bouncing off the ground a couple times with wet smacks. I smile through the pain as I repeat the process three more times.

“I gotta go, buddy…” Cerberus whines and falls to the ground. He lays down and shoots me the largest puppy eyes I’ve ever seen. “Well maybe-”

Luke cuts me off, “Nope! Time to go! Time’s a-wastin'!” He hauls me away past Cerberus and bounces the ball a few times on the rocky ground. It flashes when it's in the air and Luke reaches a hand out to snatch it.

"I'll be back! I promise!" I turn my head to flash a teary-eyed look behind me.

I wipe my eyes before looking away and running after Luke and Grover. Luke is slowed down so Grover can keep pace so it was relatively easy to catch up. The three of us slow to a walk after we enter the main part of the Underworld. We walk aimlessly for a few minutes before Grover lets out a shrill yelp. The two of us look at Grover as he is dragged by an invisible force into what looks like a pit. 

“Guys!”

“ _ Shit! _ ” Luke sprints his way towards Grover and latches onto his arm trying to pull him in my direction. “THat’s Tartarus! That’s the one place no demigod wants to go!”

It’s then I notice the way Grover is being pulled, “Grover! Lose the backpack!”

“What?! No way! It’s got Annabeth’s hat in there! She’ll kill me if I lose it!”

“Well, it's gonna be the thing that pulls you into hell if you  _ don’t lose it! _ ”

Luke pulls out Apokalyftheís, spins it through his fingers, and slices the straps of the backpack with a thick pocket knife. The backpack flies off Grover’s back and slides against the floor and into the pit.

Grover is heavily breathing, obviously worried and anxious. He fiddles with his hands unable to chew on anything due to it all being in his pack. “I’m pretty sure I almost shit myself.”

I chuckle humorlessly.

* * *

"Perseus Jackson…" one if the furies hisses.

I smile awkwardly and give them a wave.

"You're lucky godling. If Hades didn't want to meet with you'd already been dead…" With those final words, the furies open the large doors of the throne room.

"Perseus Jackson...how nice of you to stop by." The man lounging in the throne across the room has dark olive skin with eyes so dark they seem pupilless.

"Um...yeah."

He raises an eyebrow.

"So uh… I really don't wanna accuse you or anything but...all suspicion, other than me, is on you for the thievery… again not saying it was you but ya know, who else?"

The god looks immensely unimpressed. "Have you taken a look in that backpack of yours boy?"

"Many a time."

"Then you must know what's in it."

I give him a confused look and shoot Luke's grabby hands for the backpack he carries. He hands it to me and I open the thing. I almost dropped the bag to the floor at the sight of a shining silver canister.

"Um-that wasn't-when did-where?"

Hades  _ tchs _ . "You really think I'm going to believe you? You even brought me it then accused me of stealing? In my own home? In front of your own mother?" He waves his hand and the familiar figure of my mother shimmers into sight. She stands there, her eyes closed and breathing even like she is sleeping standing up.

"You?"

"I knew you were coming, it's quite obvious. Come to gloat about the loss of my helm, hmm? You'll get your mother back when you return my helm thief. Or you can just hand over the bolt. Either that...or you can join your mother down here with me. It's your choice, Jackson."

I twitch nervously, the pearls from my father clinking together in the palm of my hand.  _ I'm the only one who can save my mother. She'd beat my ass if she found out I gave up a challenge this important for her. _

Gathering my courage, I speak, " I think I'll take option four." At that, I smash a pearl at each of our feet. Bubbles leak out of the broken pearls and suck us inside. The bubbles with us inside float upwards and through the ceiling of the Throne Room, then the Underworld, and what I assume is the Earth's crust before arriving at the surface on a very familiar beach. 

We rise a bit off the ground before the bubbles are popped and we fall into the shore of the beach.  _ I guess that’s what the Naiad meant. _

A familiar voice speaks up, “So you made it out huh? Really though Uncle would kill you for that…”

I look up from my place on the ground, “ _ Ares! _ ” I spot his motorcycle a few feet away from the beach, a black ski mask hanging off the handle. It gives off a shines like signaling me it wasn’t a normal ski mask.  _ Hades Helm! _

He smirks. 

“ _ You set us up! You stole the bolt and the helm and then you blamed it on me! _ ”

“Oh, I didn’t steal anything kid. Only found out who did.”

“ _ What?! _ ”

“I’m the god of war kid. And what’s a better war than between siblings?”

“You-You selfish  _ dickhole! _ If there’s a war then the thing that’s keeping you dipshits alive are all gonna die! Are you fucking  _ stupid _ ?!”

Ares growls, “Kid...you got a lot of nerve talkin’ smack to  _ me _ …”

“And you got a lot of nerve stirring the metaphorical pot!”

Ares lets out a breathless laugh, “Wanna die kid?”

“First blood.”

Luke beside me grabs my arm and whispers to me, “ _ the fuck do you think you’re doing? _ ”

I wave him off, mumbling to trust me yet again.

Ares, at my declaration, stares at me, confused and put-off.

“We fight. The first one to draw blood wins. If you win, you can do whatever you want with me. If  _ I _ win, you give me that helm and be willing to confess  _ everything _ when it's needed.”

“You think you can beat me, kid?”

“I can at least try.”

Ares laughs,” You got a deal kid.”

“Swear it on the Styx.”

“You really want me to do that kid, really sets this fight into motion…”

“I’ve learned you can make a god do anything unless it’s binding.”  _ Or if it’s Hestia and you ask nicely. _

He laughs again and swears on the Styx. “You wanna get your ass kicked old-fashioned or modern?”

“I could get less of a shit right now.”

Ares snarls, “Old school it is.” He grabs at the air. A black metal bat materializes into his hand. He swings it arrogantly in a circle with one hand. “Batter up, punk!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry not sorry about the cliffhanger ;). Don't worry. the next chapter will come soon... : )

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are always appreciated and any ideas would be lovely. If an idea is to be used by anyone, we'll give a shout-out in the endnotes! Constructive criticism is welcomed as well! Otherwise, we hope y’all have a stellar day ;)


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